Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the establishment of the national security council. It will give co-ordination, weight and urgency to our security requirements with increased risks because of the unstable international environment and the risk of hybrid cyberattacks and hybrid warfare. It is not as if we have not been attacked. The HSE was attacked a number of years ago, There are lots of private institutions and companies that are under-reported, so we are essentially at war with someone. We do not always know who those actors are but there is a suspicion that they are acting on behalf state actors. Our ability to secure our own air and territorial waters is also extremely important. Some people would have us be passive and supine and wait for something to happen to us. The tradition of neutrality for other neutral countries has been investment in their defence and security because that is the mature and responsible approach to take. We must do that. We cannot have this unspoken reliance on third-party states for our defence and security.

See this speech in context