Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I think it would be fair to say that we have engaged through our individual partnership for peace, the renewal of that individually tailor-made programme with NATO in the context of Partners for Peace, with which we have been involved since 1999.

The areas we have prioritised with PESCO are subsea cables and infrastructure, critical infrastructure and cybersecurity. The big attack we had in this country in the past three years was that on the health service by the Conti group, a criminal operation in Russia, which basically paralysed our health service. We are conscious of the need to make sure that we have a robust, resilient situation in terms of subsea cables.

The Deputy is correct in terms of his overall question. That will require collaboration with other member states of the European Union, and we are also a member of NATO in the context of cybersecurity. We share expertise, learn from and work with others to deal with common threats. The two key ones for us are subsea cables - and eventually offshore wind infrastructure, which will be a huge economic asset - and cybersecurity.

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