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

It is not just a matter for the Garda. As our lives go online, criminals go online. We spend more of our time there so it is natural that more crime happens online. That is why the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau is a growing division of the Garda - as so many crimes are reported. During the pandemic, there was a huge increase in the amount of scam texts and calls with people trying to get money with fake deliveries and so on. I convened a meeting of the chief executives of all the phone companies and asked them to work together. Through co-operation with ComReg, we came up with an action plan and a number of scams were defeated as a result. There were five different points, which I cannot reveal because that would give the information to criminals. Representatives of banking organisations work closely with us because the money stolen from people ends up in banks. They help to provide guidance to the NCSE and the Garda on how to stop that movement of cash out of the system. Regarding Pegasus and Predator, Ireland signed up to a global anti-spyware initiative to stop the companies that produce these technologies operating in an unfair way in our jurisdictions.

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