Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I hope this is a statement of the obvious for people in this House - not all national security matters are appropriate to discuss on the floor of the Dáil. We are of course speaking to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications and his Department regarding what the Defence Forces can do to use the capacity we have to act as a deterrent and to provide as much surveillance as is reasonable. Whether it is reach capacity in respect of our Air Corps, primary radar capacity in different parts of the world or subsurface capacity in the maritime environment, there are clearly areas that need and will get investment in the next few years, which have been highlighted in the commission's report. This is one such area. As I said, we can improve security and surveillance by increasing patrols in the air and on the sea. We will discuss with infrastructure owners what more we can do to ensure we manage risk appropriately.

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