Results 2,361-2,380 of 2,990 for speaker:Ossian Smyth

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: I expect it will be next year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: The 2017 attack on the NHS was the WannaCry virus ,which was not a ransomware attack. It did cause great damage to NHS systems. It also attacked the HSE and luckily the HSE was protected to the extent that much less damage was caused. On the question of centralised cybersecurity, the Senator was suggesting that every cybersecurity lead in every Department should report to the NCSC...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: They are supposed to report to the NCSC. I would tell any organisation that is attacked to look at the website of the NCSC where there is information on how to report an incident. To give the committee an idea of the volume, 3,000 such incidents were reported last year. That is to give the committee an idea of what is going on. What was Deputy Ó Murchú's question?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: We do want people to report what happens. We do not want them to pay ransoms because doing so only creates more attacks. That is the business model of the people conducting the attacks. I would ask anybody who is attacked to contact the NCSC for assistance. The staff at that centre have great experience dealing with people who have been attacked. The actions a company takes when it is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: I can assure the Deputy that we regularly talk to all of the major tech companies. We are in contact with them all the time. I will make sure cybersecurity is on the agenda for those meetings, but there is no lack of communication. Neither is there a lack of communication with small businesses. I meet all their representative bodies every quarter. Engagement is essential. We are the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: When we have public consultations on cybersecurity, they are the bodies that respond. There are often only one or two individuals who respond and all of the others are large corporate bodies, tech giants or whatever. They have a particular interest in this area. We have a co-operative, not a fractious or confrontational, relationship. We work with those companies because we have the same...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cyber Security Centre Review: Discussion (22 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: That would be great. Thank you.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Broadband Infrastructure (21 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: The premises referred to in the Question is located in the BLUE area on the NBP High Speed Broadband Map which is available on my Department's website at www.broadband.gov.ie. BLUE areas are not included in the State intervention area covered by the National Broadband Plan as commercial operators are already providing high speed broadband or have indicated future plans to do so. My Department...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Legislative Measures (21 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: Repairing products, and making products which are more easily repairable, is central to circular economy policy in Ireland and the EU. “A Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy”, Ireland’s national waste policy 2020-2025, announced a number of initiatives to support repair activities including a commitment that the National Waste Management Plan due in 2022 will...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Recycling Policy (21 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: I propose to take Questions Nos. 107 and 115 together.107 and 115 together The Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, which was published in September 2020, details a range of measures that will be adopted to achieve optimum results in the area of plastics and packaging over the coming years. The over-riding objective is to ensure that all packaging placed on the Irish...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Waste Management (21 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: The Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, published in September 2020, contains some 200 measures which will be delivered on a phased basis over the 5 year lifetime of the Plan.  Since the plan was launched my officials have been working on advancing priority measures, including measures relating to plastic waste, end of waste, and food waste.The Plan...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Grant Payments (21 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: I refer the Deputy to the reply to Question No 60 of 9 September 2021. The position is unchanged.

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Recycling Policy (21 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: The Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy sets out the roadmap for the introduction of a national Deposit and Return Scheme in 2022.  Materials to be included in the scheme will be those for which there are challenging EU recycling and separate collection targets. The scheme will therefore focus on plastic bottles and aluminium beverage...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (16 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: Not everybody in Mayo will be connected at the same time. The connections will start at the exchanges and move outwards. There will be different deployment areas and some areas will come on stream before others. I have asked NBI to provide the most detailed information that it can, and it has provided more. I want it to be realistic with people and state that they are, at present, five...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (16 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: For a start, in response to Deputy Dillon, the management of the NBI contract is very important at this point. It is important, for example, that all penalty clauses are applied where they are legally due. I have told my project team not to show any kindness towards the contractor and to let it know that we will be setting a standard that all penalty clauses are applied where they are due....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Waste Management (16 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: Yes, my attention has been drawn to this because, during the summer, I met with the company that was experiencing difficulties in this regard and I then contacted the Department and the EPA to discuss this. Article 28 of the European Communities (Waste Directive) Regulations, S.I. No. 126 of 2011, sets out the grounds by which a material which is recovered or recycled from waste can be...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Waste Management (16 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: For a start, no company should ever have to wait years for a decision from the Government on anything, and that stands to reason. The EPA tells me that it has only ever received 68 end of waste applications. Of these, 13 have been delivered, with a further 13 applications deemed to be abandoned or withdrawn. Of the remaining 42 applications on hand, which is more than the number the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Waste Management (16 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: One of the issues is that the EPA has no legislative or strategy requirement to come to a determination in any timeframe. I think that, generally, there should be some limit on how long it takes to reach a decision. Specifically, what we can do is to make sure the EPA is sufficiently staffed and that it has the resources it needs to do it, that we monitor the length of its applications...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (16 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: Again, I refer the Deputy to the meeting of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications with National Broadband Ireland, NBI, yesterday, where some of these issues were discussed, certainly from the point of view of NBI on the acceleration of the rollout. The programme for government states that the Government will attempt to compress the length of time for the rollout from seven...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (16 Sep 2021)

Ossian Smyth: There are four deployment areas covering Cork North-Central. It is a constituency with differences in that there urban and rural areas. Of those deployment areas, one is to be completed by 2022, two by 2024 and the last by 2026. Surveys are ongoing across Cork county. It was homes in Cork that were connected first to the network. The nature of the deployment is that it starts at the...