James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Much of the money that is being used this year for ICT capital is money that was intended to be spent next year, but was brought forward to this year. This is to allow the Garda Síochána to get a head start on plans to deal with the likes of cybercrime next year. As I said, €2 million of the IT allocation was brought forward from 2022 to put the Garda Síochána into a ready stage going into 2022. This is particularly focused on the computer aided control room, CAD2, project and protecting the network infrastructure of An Garda Síochána. This figure will speak to the Deputy's point about ensuring protection against cybercrime.

The procurement of essential equipment purchases for the Garda was also brought forward, mainly for ICT capital to increase the organisation's agility and flexibility. We have seen the importance of this in ensuring that, for example, €800,000 is being spent on the network infrastructure firewalls to protect against cybercrime breaches of the network. Another €600,000 is being spent on F5 load balancers to support IT replacements and upgrades to enhance system performance. In the most basic of language, that is to ensure the system can work fast enough. There is also another €500,000 for hardware. As I said, some €2 million is being brought forward with the issue of cybercrime very much in mind.