Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Gibney very much. The point she raised around undersea cables - we may have a question on it later - is an important one because we need to have a better awareness of what is happening below our seas.

The MRV programme can do that as can the radar programme. The rollout of that radar programme is priority one, two and three. It is a programme that will start to be rolled out in 2026. It will be fully rolled out by 2028,to have a better awareness of what is happening below our waters because we would all have an awareness, a very quick and clear awareness, if something went wrong in that space as well, and not just here but right across other parts of Europe. We have an obligation to ourselves and to the global community, particularly in our exclusive economic zone, EEZ, and to co-operate and collaborate in that space. I am very conscious, cognisant and satisfied all of that can happen within the current capital upgrade programmes being planned by the Defence Forces and the current levels of operation at an EU level that are consistent and in line with our military neutrality.

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