Mr. Brian Honan:

It is getting there. Historically, we have not been good as a nation when it comes to cybersecurity. I can give a personal example. I set up the first computer emergency response team in 2008 due to a lack of movement by the Government to do so. It is a not-for-profit voluntary organisation. Thankfully, the NCSC has been established and has taken away a lot of what we do. The NCSC's remit is still very much for the critical sector and public sector. SMEs in Ireland are left largely exposed with regard to where they can get trusted independent advice on cybersecurity. The Bill will help to raise awareness of cybersecurity. Not only the regulated bodies will be impacted as their supply chains will also have to meet cybersecurity standards under the Bill. Under the NIS2 directive, regulated entities have to manage the cyber risk in their supply chain. They have to be satisfied they have managed cyber risk. This means a regulated entity will probably ask its suppliers questions about what they are doing on cybersecurity and whether they are doing enough for it to be happy with their level of security.