Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The White Paper on Defence, produced in 2015 and amended in 2019, identified hybrid attacks or cyberattacks and threats to the cyber domain and from espionage have been assessed as increasing since 2015, while the wider political and global environment is more complex and uncertain. We have seen similar attacks in Britain on the UK National Health Service, which was a specific and targeted attack. Organised crime is seen as on a par with terrorism by the UN office on terrorism and terrorism prevention in terms of threats. Why then does the NCSC fall under the remit of the Department of environment, climate and communications, and not under the Departments of Justice and Equality or Defence? The Minister has referred to security and An Garda Síochána as having been a key tool. It seems to be a piece of a jigsaw that is slightly misaligned with where the NCSC is sitting.

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