Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I just want to say that in respect of this amendment, Deputy McNamara used the word "accused". If an individual is accused of a crime in Ireland, he or she would like to see the evidence against him or her but nobody is being accused here. This is about the designation of a vendor's equipment as being high risk in a particular section of the Irish communications network. It is a designation. It does not refer to a natural individual. Nobody is being charged with a criminal offence. We are talking about a foreign corporate entity and we have defined in the legislation that it has to be a corporate entity outside of the EU. We are not talking about a person whose rights are being infringed and drawing such a parallel is unfair.

We have to protect our national security. There is a war going on in Europe at the moment. That is what has spurred this legislation, to be absolutely clear. Countries are being attacked and we are providing safe harbour to tens of thousands of people who are refugees from war, who others are attempting to murder. If we find that a country which is in an offensive stance vis-à-visour country has equipment here which is provided by an untrusted part of that administration, then of course we have to remove it and we have to have the legal power to do so. We do not want to do it without having a legal basis and that is what this legislation is about. Its aim is to protect national security. There has to be a balance here.

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