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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 and 18 together.

As Minister for Defence, I chair the Government task force on emergency planning, which supported by the office of emergency planning, OEP, in my Department. A subgroup of the task force on emergency planning was assigned responsibility to develop guidance on critical infrastructure resilience in 2017. The subgroup produced the first guideline document on critical infrastructure resilience in February 2019. This document was subsequently revised and updated in July 2021. While the primary responsibility for safeguarding critical infrastructure rests with its owner or operator, the guideline document provides the methodology for operators of essential services to follow to enhance their resilience. It also outlines that it is the responsibility of each Government Department to foster links and work closely with the semi-State and private sector operators of critical infrastructure in their respective policy areas to enhance the protection of critical infrastructure from a wide variety of threats.

The OEP in my Department is working to transpose the new critical entities resilience directive. In advance of the enactment of this directive and because of the increased threat to critical infrastructure, the Department of Defence is working with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications to stress test critical infrastructure in the energy sector in Ireland. These stress tests will be completed before the end of 2023.

Regarding the protection of Ireland’s offshore infrastructure, the Naval Service, as the State's principal seagoing agency, is tasked with a variety of defence and other roles. While the main daily tasking of the Naval Service is to provide a fishery protection service in accordance with our obligations as a member of the EU, it also carries out several other non-fisheries related tasks, including contraband interdiction duties, search and rescue, and maritime defence and security operations.  As such, any Naval Service patrol should be viewed as a multifaceted activity. These patrols are augmented by the Air Corps maritime patrol squadron in patrolling the Irish exclusive economic zone, EEZ, using the two CASA CN235 maritime patrol aircraft which are equipped with state-of-the-art surveillance and communication equipment.

Following an extraordinary EU Energy Council meeting in October 2022 to discuss the EU’s energy security in response to the attacks on Nord Stream 1 and 2, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications sought support from my Department concerning additional measures that could be put in place by the Defence Forces to ensure the protection of critical off-shore infrastructure, including data cables.

My officials and the Defence Forces continue to engage with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications regarding the protection of Ireland’s offshore infrastructure. While the Defence Forces have limited subsea capabilities, enhanced maritime patrolling of the Irish Sea in the vicinity of priority offshore infrastructure is taking place by a mixture of air and naval platforms.

A number of Russian ships have been observed inside the Irish EEZ in recent weeks. These ships were monitored by Naval Service and Air Corps maritime patrol aircraft as they transited through the Irish EEZ. Their transit appears to have been routine. Regarding Ireland's EEZ, it is not unusual for naval ships or civilian vessels of other states to carry out training exercises within this area or to pass through it.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, UNCLOS, allows for all vessels, including military vessels, to transit through the territorial waters of coastal states when conducting innocent passage, as defined by Article 19 of the UNCLOS. Any vessels transiting Irish waters must do so in compliance with international law and may be subject to sighting and observation by the Naval Service and Air Corps without their innocent passage being infringed.

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