Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is early in the day.

As I have said on numerous occasions previously, most of the good points have already been made and I will make them with less eloquence. We can break this down fairly straightforwardly. The idea of the Bill, albeit technical in nature, is to provide the Government with powers to protect security or public order from hostile actors using ownership of or influence over businesses and assets to harm the State. In this regard, we are talking about critical infrastructure companies. We all get that we are in a very different and dangerous world. On some level, maybe it is not too different. We believed we were in a safe and secure situation, particularly in Europe or the West. Obviously, that has gone out the window since the Russian invasion. In addition, we are aware of the states, state actors and even semi-contractor state actors that operate in a way that is not necessarily in accordance with the generally accepted rules of engagement. In light of the attacks on the HSE and whatever else, we are aware that it is vital to have some sort of screening process.

I echo the remarks of colleagues regarding the need to ensure that this is not used as negative leverage against the level of FDI in the State, that all the protections we have and are required are in place and that all the necessary due diligence is completed. I do not think anyone would operate on the basis that we need to ensure strategic autonomy, whether that is at European Union level or domestic level. Through the years, there have been certain core infrastructure companies that the State did not maintain when it ought to have done so, and we have paid the price for that. No matter where National Broadband Ireland, NBI, is in respect of the delivery of broadband, I think all Members accept that we would have started from a better place if Telecom Éireann had never been privatised. For multiple reasons, we need to make sure we have all the protections that are required.

In the 17 seconds I have remaining, I will do my best to deal with protections and the State. An article written by Joe Galvin and published in The Currencyrefers to a company with an address in north Dublin which has €20 million in spyware sales but pays no tax. The article is entitled "Inside the Predator's Irish lair". This is targeted spyware. Members may have previously heard of Pegasus spyware. In contrast to what happened to the HSE, this spyware facilitates those who may make a determination to take a run at a high-value target such as a journalist, a politician or whoever. Many of the sales of this spyware are located across the Middle East and other author-----

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