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

The national cybersecurity strategy sets out the strategic approach to protecting the State in the cybersecurity realm over the next five years, which I think Deputy McDonald raised. It sets out to develop our capacity and protect the State. In the last budget, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, tripled the budget for the National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications. It manages the State's incident response process to cyberattacks and is responsible for a series of initiatives to improve the resilience of critical infrastructure and public sector ICT. It works closely with the Garda and the Defence Forces. It is currently engaged in a detailed risk assessment of critical infrastructure vulnerabilities in the State. It also provides public information on cybersecurity risks and best practice.

In the context of the recent cyberattack on the HSE, our overarching priority was to restore all medical services. It was extremely difficult on font-line workers. I pay the warmest of tributes to all staff in the HSE, including those in the war room who had to deal with the cyberattack and worked night and day, at great cost to themselves, to restore services. It had a significantly negative impact on services. Front-line staff on the hospital floor had to deal with the absence of scanning, patient records and so on. It was extremely difficult for all concerned and I thank them for their enormous efforts in maintaining treatments for patients.

A group comprising the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan; the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly; the Minister for Justice, Deputy Humphreys; the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O’Gorman; and the Minister of State with responsibility for communications and e-government, Deputy Ossian Smyth, was established to monitor and steer the cross-Government response to the cyberattack. It was supported in this by the National Security Analysis Centre, based in my Department. That is in keeping with the arrangements in the National Cyber Security Centre’s, NCSC, critical national incident response plan for managing incidents such as these. The technical response to the attack involved a strongly co-ordinated effort across Government working in co-operation with specialist private sector contractors. That dedicated work is ongoing and will continue until the systems are restored and functioning again.

The Garda national cybercrime bureau leads on the criminal investigation and will continue to work closely with the NCSC and the HSE on this. It is also working with international partners, given the nature of the crime involved. It is clear in the context of cyberattacks that one has to have a team-based response, both within the country across Departments and also across Europe. It is a collective effort. The UK was particularly helpful in providing cybersecurity expertise. People rallied to the call to help us. The Polish Government gave its experience because it had been the victim of a recent attack. This needs to be acknowledged.

On the national security committee and the analysis I have received, there are a number of high-level threats or potential threats to the State that we have to keep an eye on and that some Deputies have referenced, relating to international geopolitics and to right-ring extremists and extremists of one kind or another. Our security apparatus, our Defence Forces and our gardaí keep a vigilant eye on all of that.

Deputy Kelly asked about the status of the commission on the Defence Forces. That independent commission has been established and has a mandate to report within 12 months. I think Deputies are familiar with the terms of reference, which relate to the structure and size of the Defence Forces, encompassing capability structures and staffing, appropriate governance, high-level command and control, pay and allowance structures, recruitment, retention, career progression, leveraging the capabilities of the Reserve Defence Force, RDF, and its support to the permanent Defence Forces, making service in the RDF more attractive and, of course, arrangements for the effective defence of the country by land, air and sea.

The commission has invited submissions from individuals and organisations on issues relevant to its terms of reference. It received over 500 submissions, which it is analysing. It has been established as an independent body and has met with a broad stakeholder group, including the Defence Forces representative associations, commissioned and enlisted members of the Defence Forces and senior officials and personnel from my Department, the Defence Forces and other groups.

On Deputy Devlin's points, I will work on the publication of the consultations he referenced. As I have outlined in terms of the national security strategy, there was a framework for us to work on and through and, in terms of resources, to do what we can.

On Deputy Catherine Murphy's point, there is a balance between openness around national security policy and the Deputy's sense that we are overly secretive. We have to take on board the advice we receive on certain aspects of national security but I would be interested in continuing the discussion with the Deputy

See this speech in context