James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With respect, we have very limited time. I asked Dr. Browne a very direct question. Will the NCSC be prepared if there is another major cyberattack on the HSE? May I spell out to Dr. Browne how serious that incident was? We had no access to the parliamentary questions system to put issues relating to people's health and other serious questions that need to be regularly put to the HSE because its IT systems were effectively knocked out. Dr. Browne must appreciate that that is a huge concern for us as Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas and as members of this committee, which has to scrutinise the NCSC's work. I take issue with one of the remarks Dr. Browne made. He said that each entity is responsible for its own cybersecurity. If that is the case, the NCSC's role is pointless.