Results 8,861-8,880 of 26,021 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (22 Sep 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: Yes, and the banks.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (22 Sep 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: I wish to develop that. Let us say the NDP is published and it gives a certain reassurance about meeting the objectives on the green agenda, that is, the Government's own agenda, and that those are revenue generating. What would IFAC like to see then by way of a trajectory to bring the national debt down and get us to a point where we have a balanced budget overall? Has the council thought...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Pre-Budget 2022 Scrutiny: Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (22 Sep 2021)

Kieran O'Donnell: I will conclude by asking IFAC what the current Government has got right and got wrong on the economy and market side during the pandemic. In what areas must there be improvement? This is to give us an overall perspective. Brexit looms in the background all the time. Covid has been, dare I say it, a dense presence for the past two years and, hopefully, will become less dense as we go on....

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

Kieran O'Donnell: Apologies have been received from Deputy Duncan Smith. The purpose of the meeting is to receive an update on the review of the National Cyber Security Centre, NCSC. On behalf of the committee, I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of the Department the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Ossian Smyth, and his officials. I am sorry for the slight delay in the...

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

Kieran O'Donnell: I thank the Minister of State. We will now move to members. The first slot of is with Sinn Féin and I call Deputy O'Rourke, who has seven minutes. We will stick with that arrangement, with some degree of latitude, and if people need to come back in then later, they can.

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

Kieran O'Donnell: We will proceed with the meeting in the normal way. I expect that we will have time for members to come in with follow-up questions. We will now move to the Fianna Fáil slot. I call Senator Horkan, who has seven minutes.

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

Kieran O'Donnell: I have had a chance to digest the executive summary and wish to make a couple of comments. I think it would be a fair observation that the FireEye review is very much summarised. On the last page of the executive summary the review states: In terms of wider engagement with Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), NCSC is currently under-resourced and over-taxed providing advice to c.120...

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

Kieran O'Donnell: The Minister of State may have misinterpreted what I said. The report itself was very complimentary to the staff in the NCSC but certainly pointed out deficiencies in its structure, that the centre did not have legislation to underpin its operations, did not have a single headquarter facility, and had both advisory and regulatory roles. The report said that the staff are fit for purpose but...

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

Kieran O'Donnell: Are you satisfied with the system in the HSE at the moment? It includes these 30,000 computers running the Windows 7 operating system? Are you satisfied these are fit for purpose in terms of dealing with cybersecurity at this time?

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

Kieran O'Donnell: We have 30,000 computers in the HSE operating Windows 7. Is there a need for a strategy within the HSE to replace those as quickly as possible with new, up-to-date systems?

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

Kieran O'Donnell: What budgets have you in place for the NCSC? Have you at this stage come up with figures for the annual budget? It is clear in this review, which looks to me to be a very good, comprehensive review, so what funding is required for next year and for the next five years per annum?

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

Kieran O'Donnell: I accept all that. Do you accept all the recommendations of this review by FireEye?

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

Kieran O'Donnell: Are you going to implement all of those recommendations?

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

Kieran O'Donnell: This deals specifically with the NCSC. At the end of the day, I know you are saying it is not all about money, but to a certain extent staff cost money. If I am correct, the budget for 2021 was €2.5 million. What will the budget be for 2022?

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

Kieran O'Donnell: There is an element of that, but money is still important to run any centre. On that basis alone, do we need a NCSC at all? We do. It is vital. That is why we have this review carried out. It does involve money.

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

Kieran O'Donnell: The area is urban at this point.

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

Kieran O'Donnell: I will move to Senator Craughwell of the Independent Group. He has approximately seven minutes.

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

Kieran O'Donnell: On that point, will the Department bring in experts in recruiting people for cybersecurity roles to assist in the recruitment process? It is such a specialised post. While the Public Appointments Service does its work well, for this particular role will the Department bring expertise in for the recruitment process?

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

Kieran O'Donnell: I ask the Minister of State to be careful in his comments about any live legal case.

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

Kieran O'Donnell: In the interests of consistency, I also ask the Senator to be guided by the fact it is a live legal case.