Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The last Government had a Cabinet subcommittee on national security. Why was it dropped? Is it not even more pertinent now we have such a Cabinet subcommittee? We have the National Security Committee. I do not want the details, but I presume Ministers attend that. Can the Taoiseach tell us how often it meets and at what level?

Where are we at as regards the cyberattack on the HSE? Have we sourced where the attackers targeted or how they got into our systems? I do not want the Taoiseach to tell me here, but does he know? Does he know where the weaknesses were? I asked a whole range of questions regarding operating systems which were so out of date. Have we any information as regards where the source of the weakness was? I do not want to know what is, but I want to know whether the Taoiseach knows.

I ask about other future attacks. How prepared are we across all our public services with regard to attacks in which hackers could be based in Russia or eastern Europe? If an attack on our ESB or gas network was to happen, it would be serious. It is not beyond possibility given our health service was brought to its knees.

There are a number of reports about Russian submarines in Irish waters, operating off the west coast. Have we any capacity to monitor these? What do we do? A report in The Irish Timesstated one third of fisheries patrols were cancelled by the naval service last year. A submission from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to the Commission on the Defence Forces stated Ireland had to rely on an EU ship to patrol our fishing zones for the first time.

Some four of our nine vessels are out of action, mostly due to low staffing. Basic pay, terms and conditions are a key problem for retention of such personnel in the Defence Forces. Recruitment, career progression and welfare of service families are also a major concern. The Defence Forces' strength have been hovering at just over 8,000 which is way below the 9,500 mentioned in the White Paper. Will this issue be addressed? Has it been looked at by the National Security Committee? When will the Defence Forces commission a report?

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