Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and Minister of State. I will start with a brief statement and progress to questions and answers immediately afterwards.

I utterly condemn this outrageous attack. It is an attack not only on the Irish health service but also on Irish sovereignty by criminal elements outside this jurisdiction. It is a heinous attack, a heinous crime. The blame for the incident lies principally with the criminal actors, for sure. I agree with the views of retired colonel Dorcha Lee in The Irish Times this morning. He states this cyberattack is of such a scale and of such magnitude and consequence that it should be categorised as cyberterrorism rather than cybercrime. I certainly agree with that thesis.

While utterly condemning the actions of some people, I utterly commend the actions of others, particularly our cyber professionals who have been working around the clock to fix this problem. They are highly motivated, qualified and patriotic people who are working even as we speak. I recognise the clinical staff in the HSE who, once again, are scrambling to try to deal with an incident and a geopolitical shock that was not of their making. I pass on my gratitude to the patients for their understanding and tolerance of the fact that their appointments have been postponed or that their treatments have been cancelled.

I welcome the publication of National Cyber Security Strategy about a year and half ago. It is a very good document. It is certainly a good start but, in light of events in the past few days, perhaps we need to review it and insert more ambition into it because we have just been shown and have proven how important cybersecurity is.

I welcome the appointment of Deputy Ossian Smyth, as Minister of State with responsibility for cybersecurity. I have had the very good fortune of sitting next to him in the past year in the convention centre and we have had numerous discussions on cybersecurity in that period. I have no doubt as to his ability and qualifications in this area. It is very unusual for a Deputy to be appointed to a role for which he is eminently qualified and to which he is eminently suited. I wish him well in his role.

I thank the Minister, Deputy Ryan, for his engagement on cybersecurity, both in public and in private, over the past 12 months. His engagements and answers have always been very thorough, transparent and forthright.

My first question for the Minister and Minister of State responsible for communications is on the capacity review. I appreciate the responses of the Ministers and Minister of State so far this evening. It is hoped that the capacity review will be finished in the next few weeks, as the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, said.

Will it be published? Is an implementation body in place to make sure it is actually implemented? We have a great tradition in Ireland, as, indeed, there is across the world, of writing wonderful reports but not really implementing them. Will the Minister comment on that?

The National Security Analysis Centre, NSAC, is an entity which was recommended to be established by the Commission on the Future of Policing. Is the National Security Analysis Centre involved in this response? Is it adequately resourced? I know it is embedded in the Department of the Taoiseach so perhaps the Ministers do not have an answer to that now and could reply in written form if necessary.

At times like this, I am glad that our Defence Forces have sent people to the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Estonia. There is one member of the Defence Forces there at the moment. I am heartened by the fact the Defence Forces have sent people as observers to the Permanent Structured Cooperation cyber defence projects. It ensures that we have both the tools and the talent in this country to respond to cyber defence from a military perspective, if required. I am aware the Commission on the Defence Forces will report in December. I understand that it is considering establishing a dedicated Defence Forces cyber defence unit with both defence and offence capabilities. What are the Minister's thoughts on the utility of that? I know the Minister, Deputy Ryan, mentioned that the National Cyber Security Centre is more of a co-ordinating centre than a first response centre. Does the Minister see a role for the Defence Forces in providing a first line of cyber defence?

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