Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to contribute to this debate. I wish to make a number of points. We had the assistant secretary of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, Mr. Ciarán Ó hObáin before the transport committee this morning to talk about the NCSC. It was a private meeting. We have a number of questions we would like to be clearly answered. First, are the Ministers satisfied that in view of what has happened with the cyberattack on the HSE and the Department of Health that the terms of reference of the capacity review that is currently under way are adequate? I can say without fear of contradiction that it is the biggest virus attack in Ireland probably in living memory, outside of the Covid-19 virus attack. Do the terms of reference cover what is happening at this moment in time? Can the capacity review be expedited in view of what is happening?

There are currently 29 staff in the NCSC at the moment. Is that sufficient? The budget is €5 million. Is that sufficient? A cyberattack took place late on Thursday night or early on Friday morning of last week. Are cyberattacks continuing to happen or is it purely remediation work that is going on at the moment? How long is it expected before the matter will be fully resolved? I ask the Ministers to deal with those initial questions.

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