Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste has outlined the issues quite succinctly and well. One thing to bear in mind as well is whether the strategy will incorporate external expertise to ensure that it reflects best international practice. That is not necessarily expertise from the private sector. We would be looking to our partners in Europe specifically, and then obviously to our Canadian and American partners, when it comes to the protection of deep-sea cables. Crucially, it will need to provide a clear national security doctrine that allows the State to protect itself across all domains, not just in traditional defence. The Tánaiste has outlined that it will do so. It will not be single-faceted; it will be a multifaceted approach and it will be quite detailed. The illusion of security is not enough. As the Tánaiste mentioned, quite rightly, just because we are a neutral country does not mean we should not be able to defend ourselves. Resilience must be real, structured and forward-looking.

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