Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy likes to dish out complaints but I am not so sure he is aware that a consultation is underway to which he could submit his view if he believes there should be an independent regulator and that it should not be done by having it within the Department, as it has been done in the past. He can submit that view. Clearly, this consultation is open to evaluating whether the structures in place are adequate. I agree with the Deputy that this is an area where there are growing threats. The measure about which we are talking today is not showing delay. We are designating all of the areas I pointed out such as transport, energy, banking, financial market infrastructures, health and drinking water. They will be required to identify means of protecting their infrastructures. That means they must look at human issues, access control policies, technological responses, electronic measures to protect their infrastructure, firewalls and encryption. All of those issues must be addressed. They must also have adequate measures to detect anomalies or events on a system, including how monitoring is to be conducted, the processes in place and whether they are fit for purpose. This is putting in place the protections we need in the banking system, the electricity system and so on. If the Deputy has ideas about the future direction of cybersecurity policy, now is the time to submit them.

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