Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes, the Minister for Transport or rather, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. It is the same person. Let us wait and see how that evolves. Certainly, the Government is conscious of the need to continue to build capacity in terms of cybersecurity generally. Within the Defence Forces, we have to make sure that our own systems are as bulletproof as they can be from cyberattack. That means building more resilience within the Defence Forces and our systems and structures, particularly if those systems and structures are to grow, which they are. The Defence Forces contribution to national cybersecurity issues will increase, probably in terms of the partnership in the National Cyber Security Centre. That may involve more Defence Forces involvement but that is to be discussed by Government. Certainly, within the Defence Forces, we need to build more capacity and resilience there, and we will do that. We have people seconded to other centres of excellence around Europe, obviously, learning and training, etc., so that we can benefit from other countries' developments, ideas and skill sets.

On the Reserve, there is a role for the Reserve to play there, although I think we need to build that skill set within the Permanent Defence Force too.

The Reserve is not where it needs to be. It needs to increase in size by not quite but nearly threefold. I hope by the end of the year we will have a revitalisation plan, if you like, for our Reserve in terms of resourcing, training and how it fits into the new defence headquarters------