Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will pick up on the point made by Deputy Eoin Ó Broin on the cyberattack by rogue hackers which infected a number of State agency systems, apparently mining for cryptocurrencies. I do not know how it is done, but I am sure somebody does. The impact is simply the latest manifestation of the vulnerability of State's Internet systems to external attack. Obviously, the data held by organisations such as the HSE, the Oireachtas and local authorities can be very important for citizens. What efforts are under way specifically to deal with the most significant potential assaults on us as a nation? I understand the Defence Forces have only two personnel seconded to the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment to deal with this issue on an ongoing basis. Will the Taoiseach give us an indication of the structure and size of the efforts made to combat cyberattacks and maintain cybersecurity in the State? Does he believe it is enough? Do we need a new agency? Are the agencies in existence co-operating well? How could matters be improved and have they been debated?

I have two other brief questions. One concerns foreign interference with our electoral processes. We are aware from what happened overtly in the United States, France and a number of other countries that it is expected that external forces often try to influence the outcome of democratic elections by manipulating opinion online. Do we have any defence mechanism against this or is it something that is on the Government's agenda?

My third question is on a point I raised some time ago. The Taoiseach might have had an opportunity to reflect on it. If not, he might come back to me on it. In the event of a national crisis, we issue a red alert. We did it in the case of Storm Ophelia and there was a lot of confusion about what exactly it meant. The Government task force on emergency planning was to have submitted a document in January for consideration by the Government. That is what we were told at the end of last year about a national standard response that was expected when a red alert was declared.

Was that report submitted to the Government in January and will the Government issue national guidelines on how to handle a red alert?

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