Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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This point is about providing a statutory basis for what we do. We have the rule of law. We are dealing with people who are criminals. We want to ensure that what we are doing has a sound legal basis and that we are not descending to their level. The idea is to ensure that we have an absolutely solid legal basis for everything we are doing and that people responding to the NCSC know that the organisation has the right under law to make requests, issue compliance orders, etc. In practice, the NCSC is the national technical authority on cybersecurity and cybercrime. The legislation that will be brought forward will underpin that position. It will provide strategic information to everybody in Government in that regard. If anybody is presented with a decision to make, then he or she will be able to see that the NCSC is clearly and legally the central authority in that regard.