Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)
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3. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence to provide an update on the national maritime security strategy; and the level of funding that has been committed for 2026 and 2027. [49299/25]

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)
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The area of maritime security is one of the most salient to us as an island nation. If we are talking about increasing defence expenditure, we must surely ensure that our seas are safeguarded against traditional threats but also against new and expanding threats such as threats to undersea cables, hybrid threats and so on. A maritime security strategy is obviously something that is very timely but it is vitally important that the resources will follow it. Will the Tánaiste outline the timescale in question regarding the development of the security strategy and the funding commitments that will follow?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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At the outset, I very much agree with the Deputy. For an island nation, the development of a robust, comprehensive national maritime security strategy is key. Indeed, this was identified as a priority in last year's defence policy review. I am pleased to say that the strategy is now being developed in consultation with national and international stakeholders and it is expected to be delivered to me for consideration before the end of the year. In support of the development of the strategy, my Department held a public consultation over the summer to gauge people’s views and to try to build consensus on the diverse threats, risks, challenges and opportunities that are faced by our country in the maritime domain. I am pleased to say the public consultation got a lot of engagement. Approximately 300 submissions were received from a wide range of interested parties and stakeholders, including a number of Departments, academia and industry, but also members of the public. Initial analysis of the submissions has now taken place. I got a note on this the other day. It indicated that there is strong support for a strategy. There is also a very clear understanding from the public of Ireland's most urgent maritime security challenges, particularly the growing threats to critical undersea infrastructure; that came up quite a lot. We also detected significant support for international co-operation to improve maritime security. Analysis of the submissions is ongoing and the input gathered will serve as a critical foundation for shaping a robust and forward-looking national maritime security strategy to ensure Ireland is well prepared to meet current and future challenges in our maritime domain.

Regarding the funding of any capabilities or the funding of the strategy as per the previous question, capital funding of €1.7 billion has been allocated to the defence development plan for the period 2026 to 2030. This is an increase of €600 million and a 55% increase on our capital funding from the previous baseline figure. This indicates a significant commitment to continuing to increase investment in our defence infrastructure as well. We will be outlining how we intend to take that forward in our sectoral investment plan in the coming weeks.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)
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Addressing this in a way that is sustainable will require some current spending as well as capital spending and I might come back to that in my last contribution. The threats that are potentially faced are multiple. There are obviously the traditional issues that the Defence Forces faced in ensuring the protection of Irish waters in a fishing and general sort of sense but also as regards the issue of the undersea cables. I understand more than 95% of international data and voice transfers are routed through undersea fibre-optic cables. When you combine that with Ireland's particular situation in terms of the technology industry and the clustering of the tech businesses in Ireland, it makes Ireland particularly vulnerable. There is also the issue of an increasing number of shadow ships and so on coming into Irish waters. The Defence Forces have dealt with this appropriately but ensuring they have the capacity to continue doing so as these threats potentially increase is going to be crucially important. There is also the issue of the full radar picture which needs to be addressed from a capital funding point of view.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I agree with that. We will get to it in a second but there will of course be current public expenditure as well, including making sure we have the men and women to operate and implement any such infrastructure and that we grow the size of our navy as well. Last year's defence policy review did recommend a focus on maritime security because of our assessed threat level, our geographic position and our responsibility and commitment to support security and defence of Europe. We are a small island in the north Atlantic. Our maritime footprint, our exclusive economic zone, is seven times our land area and our waters are currently home to a considerable percentage of transatlantic data communication. We have significant energy infrastructure running though our waters, particularly gas pipelines and electricity interconnectors. Our most recent national risk assessment, which my own Department co-ordinates, identified damage to undersea infrastructure as one of the 22 key risks for our country. The focus of the new strategy in its initial phase will be on national security and defence matters and we will develop a strategy that combines an enhanced awareness but also a prioritisation of the protection of our critical infrastructure, especially that undersea infrastructure. The Deputy will be aware of the work that is under way in the development of our sonar capability for the Naval Service and this is a priority project at this time.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)
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On that, and it partially relates to my first question, it is important after the budget that the Department would publish a document outlining where we now stand with the revised capital development plan and to mark that against the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. That would be a useful document if it were possible to achieve. One of the areas in which the gap between the current reality and the ambition is most stark is in our naval capacity. The Naval Service is still in a very under-resourced state. The manner in which it has conducted itself as regards some of the issues that have arisen has been exemplary but we still have the embarrassing situation where boats have been put to sea without a functioning main gun. That is primarily due to lack of personnel and expertise. One of the issues I have raised in the past - the Minister has talked about service level commitment schemes for certain ranks - relates to one of the roles that are most difficult to obtain and retain for the Defence Forces, namely, artificers. They are hugely in demand in the private sector. That needs to be looked at in the scheme.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is right to highlight a particular challenge when it comes to our Naval Service. I join him in thanking its members for their exemplary service. We do need to grow our navy and that requires more men and women in our Naval Service. It also requires more than me just saying that at a headline level. It also involves identifying, as the Deputy rightly said, the specialist skills. What becomes very clear very quickly is that a couple of individuals with certain skill sets not being there can result in a ship not being able to go to sea. The pinch points that are there are real. They often relate to very specialist skills. That is why I have asked the Defence Forces and the Department of Defence to jointly produce a plan of action for the Naval Service. I am expecting to receive that very shortly - within a matter of weeks. There are then opportunities, both in the context of the budget and the capital plan which I have referenced, but also the local bargaining provisions that are available under the public sector pay agreements, to consider some of those specialist issues referenced by the Deputy in terms of various allowances that can be considered.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)
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There is only so far 1% will go.