Mr. Pat Larkin:

Again, the idea here is that bets are being picked by way of the five clusters. The Cyber Ireland cluster is already seen as a kind of marquee cluster in terms of innovation. We have only been in existence since 2019. I do not wish to sound ungrateful but we have been existing off relatively meagre funding streams. We have been living hand to mouth. The funding has been gratefully accepted and it has allowed what we have established to date. However, we have very big ambitions for what we want to accomplish. That is going to need more funding streams. If we are established as one of the five designated cluster organisations, it will provide us with much more security of tenure and much more targeted funding streams. It would mean being designated as one of the priorities in terms of both national security and the economic opportunity.

We have had a really good start from quite meagre resources. As I have outlined, we have a significant degree of catch-up to play. As a global ranking, we are seen very much as a laggard on the cybersecurity indices. This causes two problems. First, it is a problem for security. Second is the fact the cybersecurity sector enables the digital sector. Microsoft, Facebook, Google and the various fintech companies all come here on the assumption that the lights wills stay on and they can deliver their services from the data centre that is Ireland. If that does not happen, this very portable capital asset will flee in the coming months and years. If we cannot keep the lights on, we cannot keep these organisations secure. They invest significantly in their own security but they depend on national infrastructure in order to exist and function here. If we suffer a national security setback and high levels of crime, or if we cannot provide the talent pool needed and we do not have the research and innovation, not only will the cybersecurity sector be unsuccessful, but our digital economy will flee as well.