Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. This is an issue we mentioned as a party in 2013 and my colleague, the current Ceann Comhaire, sought to have it progressed. I am concerned that there was a two year period during which this was a scoping exercise and now it is a feasibility study. Is that an indication that there is significant doubt within the Department of Defence towards progressing it? It is moving at a very slow pace and I would like to believe it will be progressed at a quicker pace. That is important. We saw Kofi Annan launch a new peacekeeping training centre in China recently. They are trying to develop an expertise around cyber security. In an Irish context we have the Government's policy on foreign direct investment, FDI, the progression on data centres and technology control around peacekeeping but also developing the intelligence expertise in a particular centre to address serious safety issues in terms of cyber security that will threaten companies but also the State itself. We need to be looking at developing a model of expertise that can become international best practice. We need to move beyond feasibility studies and I would like to see a more defined proposal from the Minister and his Department.

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