Dáil debates

Wednesday, 19 May 2021

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

 

12:22 pm

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and I acknowledge his consistency on it. I will say what I have said consistently since this attack. It is a despicable thing to do to attack a health service and to engage in theft of people's personal medical records. This is a criminal enterprise and this is what criminals do in situations like this. We have to be very clear on two things. First, people should contact the Garda if situations such as those the Deputy has outlined arise. The Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau is dealing with this issue on the criminal side and from an investigative perspective. The national cybersecurity team is dealing with external support and hundreds of people are working on this right now, and have been since the weekend, with a view to restoring services. The objective is to get services resumed as quickly and as safely as we possibly can. That involves a strongly co-ordinated effort across government and I assure the Deputy that is happening in co-operation with specialist private sector contractors. That work is under way. We want to get systems, including radiology, diagnostics, maternity services, infant care and radiation oncology back online. Regarding some of the voluntary hospitals, work is progressing. Vaccination and Covid test and trace are operating without the GP referral system for testing, and people with symptoms may attend test centres without an appointment. The HSE is providing ongoing updates on service availability on its website. We are not engaged, and as a State we cannot become engaged, in rewarding and funding this kind of criminality.

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