Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely not. It is about learning about this area. We have to work with others, as we do already. What happens at the moment is that if certain ships go into the exclusive economic zones, services will alert other services. That happens regularly. When CHENS, the heads of all the navies across Europe, met in Cork about two years ago - it was a kind of social event - I had some very interesting chats with members of other navies and experts in this. Mathematical capability is very important, as are algorithms. This is a very complex area; it is not simple. For example, private operators have to co-operate with states. Who owns the cables? The governments do not own the cables. Who owns the data? I refer to maritime law. There are huge, complex issues in respect of this entire area. Even if we had full capacity, we would still be participating in these exercises, operations and learning experiences because this will be about who can outwit the other side. In other words, those who wish to interrupt or damage cables will be using all modern technologies to do that. It will not be just a crude cut-it-with-a-pliers job; it is more sophisticated than that. The defence of these cables will have to be equally robust and resilient, with knowledge, technology and experience. You will never have enough ships to be around every corner to spot a particular operation under way. Ships are very important from deterrent and awareness points of view, but it will take an awful lot more than that to be fully resilient in respect of our subsea cables. The private sector companies that own or use the cables will have to co-operate more too and open up more with governments and militaries to let them know exactly what is what. It was explained to me at the CHENS meeting what happens after 12 nautical miles. It is fascinating. If you are in international waters, who owns the data, for example?

This is a multidisciplinary situation that demands a multidisciplinary response.

When I was in the then Department of Education and Science, we incentivised collaboration between universities. There was a time when universities were go-it-alone merchants on things like nanotechnology, maths and computer science. We eventually incentivised them to work together to bring together the best brains. We are doing that through the shared island unit. We are bringing together the best brains on the island to deal with cancer diagnoses. We are not saying that any one university alone has the whole reservoir of knowledge. The same applies here. We would be very foolish not to avail of strong reservoirs of knowledge in other member states of the European Union and draw on that to enhance our own capabilities and protect our own infrastructure.