Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I appreciate there is a complex arrangement of various groups. Regarding capacity, the capacity review of the NCSC was commissioned by the Minister, Deputy Ryan, in January. The reviewers analysed the strengths and weaknesses of the NCSC, the physical, hardware and personnel resources it needed, how it was doing and how it compared with similar organisations. I will be very reluctant to publish the review when it is issued as it is a guide to the vulnerabilities of the NCSC. I will certainly be acting on the recommendations but it will be difficult for me to publicly tell everybody what the weaknesses of the organisation are and the recommendations for it. It has been upgraded continuously. It has to be upgraded all the time because the threat is continuously upgraded.

With regard to the NCSC's relationship with the Garda, there is the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau, which I believe has had its number of staff doubled to 140. I can get more up-to-date numbers on that. The bureau reports to Deputy Humphreys as Minister for Justice. The Garda has intelligence from the Directorate of Military Intelligence. It is an intelligence bureau and has a different role from that of investigating crime and making recommendations on how to protect oneself. The NCSC is a statutory body under European law.

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