Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have extensive briefing notes and speaking points, but I will try to not to use all of them as I appreciate we are discussing Second Stage and will have an opportunity on Committee Stage to engage further on the Bill.

The good news is that the Fianna Fáil Party will support the Bill which aims to define criminal offences in the area of attacks against information systems and establish effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties for such offences. As the Minister of State outlined, given the presence here of many information technology companies, including Google, Facebook and eBay - there are too many to mention - it is important that we be at the top of our game in dealing with people who seek to make life difficult and awkward for all of us. We all rely on mobile phones, use mobile banking services and send e-mails and want to ensure these activities are as safe as possible.

It is critical that citizens, business and government be protected from cyber-attacks which increasingly constitute a major challenge in today's technological environment. The presence of so many high-tech and Internet based companies in Ireland makes this even more relevant. However, it is also critical that we resource the Garda to enforce the laws on cybercrime. It is a matter of concern that the number of gardaí working in the area of cybercrime fell in 2016. Late last year figures provided for Fianna Fáil through a parliamentary question showed that only 29 gardaí were tasked with policing cybercrime, despite the number of cyber-attacks doubling. The number of gardaí working to tackle this growing threat declined in the past two years, despite an increasing number of cyber-attacks in Ireland. Cybercrime is a real and growing threat to individuals and businesses. We have seen personal attacks involving blackmail which had tragic consequences, as well as economic crimes that resulted in losses of millions of euro to business through fraud. In just a few clicks lives can be ruined and businesses destroyed. While the creation of a dedicated unit is a welcome step, it will be unable to make substantive progress unless it has sufficient and skilled personnel. The increase in the number of gardaí secured by Fianna Fáil in the confidence and supply agreement must be used in part to help deal with this rising threat.

A recent comprehensive PwC Irish economic crime survey outlined the scale of the threat posed by cybercrime. The report found that nearly half of organisations which had reported economic crime had suffered a cyber-attack in the previous two years. The figure has almost doubled since 2012 and is substantially higher than results globally. Of those affected by cybercrime in Ireland, nearly one in five incurred losses in excess of €92,000 and figures as high as €4.6 million were reported. Also, board members and directors are not paying sufficient attention to cyber-readiness. Fewer than half of board members request information on the cyber-readiness of their organisation in any given year.

The 2015 Garda Inspectorate report highlighted how cybercrime and cyber-security covered a range of offences. Advances in technology are creating new opportunities for criminals. I appreciate that this area is changing rapidly - almost on a daily basis - and that organised criminal networks are expanding into it. Cybercrime affects everyone, including citizens, corporations and governments. During visits by the Garda Inspectorate, many senior gardaí highlighted cybercrime and the threats it posed as requiring the creation of a cybercrime unit and immediate action by An Garda Síochána. Many policing services have developed cybercrime units and some have included cybercrime in an existing organised crime unit. The Garda Inspectorate believes there is an opportunity to create cybercrime investigative capacity within a serious and organised unit. As part of the responsibility of such a unit, a national cybercrime strategy should be developed. In its more than 20 years in existence, the computer crime investigation unit at the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation has had many successes in detecting crimes such as computer related fraud and illegal trading over the darknet. It has built up significant experience and expertise, with many of its staff regarded externally as experts in their respective fields. However, a lack of technology has resulted in a widely reported backlog of cases in the unit. Additional resources and a change in processes in the computer crime investigation unit have led to a reduction in the backlog. However, to ensure it has the capacity and capability to deal with current and future workloads, the unit will be restructured and further management and staff added.

Although it is a separate area, the significant growth in cyberbullying in recent years has allowed bullies to target individuals with little or no sanction or regulation. A September 2016 report published by the Law Reform Commission underscores the need to do more to tackle the emergence of online hate campaigns and bullying. Cyberbullying can have devastating consequences and tackling it will require much more awareness. While it has not affected the school, the board of which I chair, I am aware that young people are very vulnerable to this problem which has had tragic consequences for those who have been attacked online. I appreciate that this issue is not directly related to the Bill. It is important, however, that the House acknowledge the need to strike a balance when dealing with digital harassment. Awareness campaigns on digital safety and good practice and better education are all components of this. Equally, strong sanctions which are provided for in the Bill act as an important deterrent. Fianna Fáil previously proposed a major shift in the law to protect people, especially children, from cyberbullying and make it a criminal offence to engage in, assist or encourage cyberbullying. If the legislation had been successfully supported by the Government, the offence of cyberbullying would have been defined in Irish law to help to protect people from online hate campaigns. Online bullying, hate campaigns and harassment are major issues, principally for the younger generation, and we need a strong basis in law to help to tackle the problem. The Government must ensure the full recommendations made in reports on how to deal with cyberbullying are implemented. As the digital and technological revolution continues, we must be prepared to respond to legally protect our civil liberties. In the past, online bullying has only had consequences for the victims. Now is the time to ensure the perpetrators also face legal consequences.

I commend the Minister of State for the Bill, which is great work, and welcome the transposition of EU legislation in this area into Irish law. We must ensure the Garda has sufficient resources to enforce this law appropriately. While I appreciate that much of this relates to systems and the cloud and we are no longer talking about computers at home, we must tackle cyberbullying and cybercrime. This is a good step, but we must make sure the Garda is resourced with sufficient highly qualified and technical personnel. This is not a job for ordinary gardaí graduating from the Garda College in Templemore, as good as they may be.This is a very specialised and skilled area. There have been murder cases solved through the use of technology, including a very famous one recently. There are amazing skills within the Garda, but we need to make sure that we work together to resource them sufficiently to tackle these bullies and criminals.