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

I thank the Deputies. I kind of responded to Deputy Ó Cearúil. I agree with what Deputy Daly said. We need to strengthen our defences and capability. What Deputy Daly said about a small business in his constituency is interesting. Some people in the House are oblivious about the level of cybersecurity attacks on the private sector in Ireland. Many companies are spending a lot of money on their cybersecurity defences because it is very disruptive. Universities have been hit. The HSE was paralysed during Covid by the Conti group, which is a group in Russia that did enormous damage. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the level of cyberattacks in Europe has gone up exponentially. The Baltics are experiencing hybrid warfare at the moment, which many believe is emanating from Russia. The consistent theme in European meetings for the past year is the existential threat that Russia poses to European states. I was struck by Deputies Coppinger and Boyd Barrett not mentioning Russia once. That speaks eloquently to the lens through which they look at the world.

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