Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I can understand that concern and I have asked that question because it was when I was last in the Department of Defence that we put together the White Paper. At that time, there was a discussion within government on national security infrastructure, how the Defence Forces interact with An Garda Síochána and how we can respond to an emerging cybersecurity threat. There is significant expertise in the Department with responsibility for the environment, climate and communications from a communications perspective, which is essentially the platform for cybersecurity attacks. One could argue for the NCSC to come under the Department of Justice and Equality, the Department of Defence or the Department with responsibility for the environment, climate and communications or for central co-ordination from the Taoiseach. The decision was made, after a lot of discussion, that the national cybersecurity centre should come under the Department with responsibility for the environment, climate and communications because we are talking about communications networks being intercepted and compromised by security threats.

I understand the argument the Deputy is making but there is significant expertise in that Department. Most important, the message is that the NCSC is about pulling together all of the expertise from different Departments, including the Defence Forces as well as the Department of Defence, to make sure we have a central office that is using all of the expertise available to make sure we are protecting the interests of the State from cybersecurity attacks, which are a significant threat internationally. Ireland rates well internationally and we are learning from others. There is a European centre of excellence in Tallinn, Estonia, which we are interacting with to make sure we are fully up to speed with the kind of response that is needed.

See this speech in context