Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 1 December 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs

EU Cybersecurity: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Juhan Lepassaar:

I thank the Deputy for his first question. It helps me to tackle one important domain I neglected, which is the supply chain. The dominance of certain actors in our supply chain either supplying services or products we use is another critical issue because it increases the risk that one single vulnerability could affect very many entities across borders. The nature of how we build our supply chains and the way in which we ensure our supply chains are competitive but also secure is another big problem we need to deal with at EU level. The agency's toolbox has helped member states to build as we pass on to the 5G and offers one potential model of how it can be done but what fits for one sector or one particular technology might not be the best approach to be replicated across the board. In the context of supply chains, whether we are too dependent on single providers is also an issue in cybersecurity.