Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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From the HSE cyberattack, we learnt that there is a front-line cyber defence through the An Garda Síochána and through the Communications and Information Services, CIS, Corps, of the Defence Forces. The second tier, namely, the Second Line Reserve - and this requires the employment legislation we are talking about - are people who are working in the cyber industry. They could be shifted from their current work into an emergency situation where a national utility or a national organisation had been attacked. Part of a vision document we have been working on for some time proposes there would be tertiary, or a third tier, perhaps called the cyber Fianna, if one wanted to call them that, with people who would be less qualified but would be available for some of what we might call the grunt work that is required following a major cyberattack. In the HSE case, this was the reconfiguration of every machine in the country. In order to ensure that it is an organisation that is dynamic and flexible and available, it is my view that they would be ideally suited in the RDF where they would have the discipline, the training and access to ongoing training in the latest and greatest technology there is. This is an area we need to focus on. We need to stop thinking of the RDF as infantry soldiers and start thinking of them as experts who are available and have the training that everybody else has. I am sorry for interjecting again but really the work the Reserve does is incredible for the small number there is.