Gerard Craughwell (Independent)

I would like a debate on Iran. We are in election mode. The way we deal with elections here and the way they are dealt with in Iran are very different. I visited Iran with a delegation from this House and I can say that the people are just like us. They drink coffee, laugh, joke and enjoy life, but if you come the wrong side of the regime, they hang you. In 14 months, 1,850 people have been hanged. The way they hang them is horrendous. They put a noose around your neck and they lift you up and allow you to strangulate rather than a drop hang, so it is not just hanging, it is absolute brutality. They are hanging up to nine people per day so we need to establish what Ireland's position on this brutal regime is. I ask the Leader to organise a debate on that if he can.

I read today is that Singapore has organised that small and medium-sized industries will have free cybersecurity protection for a year. What are we doing about cyber protection within the SME sector? In the next short period, small and medium-sized industries in this country will be responsible for adherence to the EU Cyber Resilience Act, the NIS2 directive, the Digital Operational Resilience Act, DORA, and the GDPR. There is so much coming through. Board members can be struck off for life for failing to meet their requirements and organisations can be fined. Imagine being a manufacturing company today. You have to manufacture goods that will be cyber-resilient for life. That means re-engineering and redesigning. It involves where you are getting your chips from if it is based on chip technology. We have CCTV in this House. I do not know if it is still provided by Huawei. If it is, where did the chips come from and who is watching us? Watch the watchers, that is why I say, so I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on that if he can.