Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On the first issue, relating to there being a designated portion of expenditure for security, I expect that, as a Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Smyth, is trained to expect outcomes for outputs. If money is being expended, there will presumably be targeted outcomes for that. Nevertheless, it seems that if Germany is doing this, and if state actors are already spending enormous sums, we should ensure the infrastructure on which we are spending these enormous sums is as secure as it can be from attack. In the presentation from the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, it indicated the average security spend within the ICT budget in Europe amounts to 10%, while in the US, the average is 15%. Should we learn from that experience?