Dáil debates
Thursday, 1 June 2023
Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions
Further and Higher Education
11:20 am
Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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89. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he is satisfied that sufficient courses in cybersecurity are available in the further and higher education sectors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26397/23]
Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Cybersecurity and the protection of IT systems, data systems and communication networks are vitally important to the economy and all of society. The trend towards an increase in the use of digital and cloud technologies in both the public and private sectors has been under way for some time. As we all know, however, Covid-19 has accelerated this trend, transforming much of how we live and work. We need to have the trained personnel and, indeed, infrastructure to protect these systems. The risk of failures in cybersecurity can lead to massive disruption to critical infrastructure. The necessity to address this risk rises as the extent to which society relies on digital technology increases.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Brendan Smith for raising this issue. He is absolutely right. The whole area of cybersecurity is a major issue of growing concern to both the public and private sectors and to modern life. We are seeing more and more crime now move from physically happening in a business place or in terms of a burglary in a home to online cybersecurity issues and cybercrime.
The cybersecurity sector is absolutely vital in both underpinning and securing much of our modern society. I very much recognise the importance of ensuring sufficient provision across the further and higher education sector, which is why I am grateful to the Deputy for raising this issue.
Last year, more than 1,600 learners took part in cybersecurity and related programmes in the further education and training sector. The planned number of learners on these programmes this year is now over 2,000, which is quite a significant increase. Courses include e-college courses such as IT specialist in network security, post-leaving certificate courses such as software, coding and cybersecurity and skills to advance courses such as cyber awareness. Skillnet Ireland also provides a wide number of enterprise-led cybersecurity upskilling programmes to businesses within the technology and broader sectors. This is where Skillnet will go into a workplace and provide upskilling opportunities to its employees. In 2022, 14 Skillnet business networks provided cybersecurity training to more than 1,400 businesses and 2,400 participants in the further education sector.
Across the higher education sector, there were 38 courses available in cybersecurity in ten different universities throughout Ireland in the 2021-22 academic year. Under Springboard+ and human capital initiative, HCI, pillar 1, 16 courses in cybersecurity were available in 11 different institutions for the academic year this year. Springboard+ and HCI pillar 1 programmes will be launched in the coming weeks, and I am pleased to assure Deputy Smith that further cybersecurity and related courses will now be available for the next academic year starting in September. The HCI pillar 3 cyber skills project, which is led by Munster Technological University, will enable unprecedented collaboration between higher education institutions at a national scale. This has the potential to be transformative for the cybersecurity domain.
Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. He is probably well aware of the initiative of the Louth & Meath Education and Training Board, LMETB, particularly led by Mr. Martin O'Brien as chief executive. It will be rolling out a specific course in the whole area of cyber information technology and also cyber operational technology for manufactures. I want to compliment our colleague in the Oireachtas, Senator Craughwell, who has been trying to lead an awareness campaign regarding the importance of cybersecurity and creating awareness not just among people in the public service or those at high level in business but in society in general. There is a great opportunity to ensure there is collaboration at further education level across the country.
The Minister will have often heard me repeat the need for collaboration on an all-Ireland basis in the whole area of the further development of further education. Maybe with the evolution of these new programmes, we should be looking at it in the all-Ireland context. There is collaboration at further and higher education level but there is always scope for more. The Louth & Meath ETB initiative will be rolled out in the middle of June. That needs to be replicated in every ETB in the country. I hope that message will go out directly from the Minister and the Department.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Let it certainly go out from here because LMETB and Mr. O'Brien are doing absolutely brilliant work. We are really fortunate because that ETB just busts on through any challenges or bureaucratic blockages it might encounter from time to time in getting the job done. I am very complimentary of the work of LMETB and of Senator Craughwell. I had the chance to meet him on this issue and he continues to engage with me on it. He is right about the need for that focus on cybersecurity from the education sector. He specifically mentioned the advanced manufacture and training centre of excellence in LMETB, which was established in 2021 and is dedicated to providing high-quality training to industry.
I have been there on a number of occasions. It uses innovative and flexible modes of delivery, including online, blended, virtual and on-site training. It also focuses on employer-orientated training. It now provides opportunities in cybereducation and skills development as part of its curriculum to support what it calls the industry 4.0 mission. It launched its first cybersecurity apprenticeship programme in November last year to run its new cybersecurity awareness training courses. We can certainly learn from the good work going on there. I will certainly commit to doing that and to investing time in this.
11:30 am
Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. Some time ago, I had the opportunity to visit the new South West College in Enniskillen, which has an enormous catchment area in Tyrone and Fermanagh. The college was developing an innovative cybersecurity course. There are opportunities in that area for us to collaborate and ensure a good presence of such courses throughout the country. We are all aware of the desperate attack made by a rogue state or international criminals on the HSE and the Munster Technological University. It has been suggested to me, and I do not know how well founded this is, that a considerable percentage of the small and medium enterprises in this country have suffered ransomware attacks. We need to create awareness around this issue. Some people in the international community reckon that the criminal side of cybersecurity will soon equal, in monetary terms, the value of criminality in the illegal drugs trade. There is widespread criminal activity out there. It is not just the major players in the public service and the private sector or the major international corporations that will be affected. All of us, on an everyday basis, can be severely impacted by such cyberattacks. As a society, we want to prepare ourselves by having the qualified personnel to carry out the necessary work. We must ensure we are all adequately aware of the dangers.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I have just finished my apprenticeship in the Department of Justice and I am very aware of the issues the Deputy has raised about cybercrime, cybersecurity, how much crime is now moving online and the need for vigilance. The education sector needs to respond by providing opportunities for people in the public sector and in industry to develop the skills to respond. We also need to use the agency Skillnet Ireland, which can go into employers, including small and medium enterprises, and provide them with the training opportunities they need. I am grateful for the work Skillnet Ireland is doing. The Deputy's basic premise is that we need to be doing even more in this space, taking examples of good practice and embedding them across the sector. That is absolutely right and true. I will undertake to work on that.
I know the Deputy is passionate about the issue of all-island approaches to education, as I am. This year will see the first all-island apprenticeship developed. We are going to start seeing medical education provided on an all-island basis. There is no reason we cannot be doing some of this cybersecurity stuff in that all-island space. I am certainly happy to investigate the possibilities in that regard.