Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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212. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of staff working in the National Cyber Security Centre in each of the years 2016 to 2020 and to date in 2021, in tabular form. [43883/21]

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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The National Cyber Security Strategy published in 2019 provided that the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) will be further developed, particularly with regard to its ability to monitor and respond to cyber security incidents and developing threats in the State. The Programme for Government included a commitment to undertake a capacity review of the NCSC to benchmark the Centre against similar agencies in Europe and internationally and inform future investment in staffing and technology.Earlier this year my Department commissioned independent international consultants to conduct the capacity review and it was completed in June of this year. Following consideration of the Capacity Review and its recommendations, the Government in agreed in July to an expansion of the NCSC from 26 to 45 staff over the next 18 months, and to 70 within 5 years. The associated budgetary increase for the NCSC for 2022 is estimated at €2.5 million. The Government also agreed a significant package of measures to further strengthen the capacity of the NCSC to respond to the growing threat from cyber criminals, including the development of legislation to establish the NCSC on a statutory basis with a set of formal powers and a legal mandate. The overall package of measures agreed by Government includes:

That the role of Director of the NCSC be re-advertised at a salary of €184,000 (Deputy Secretary scale) to reflect the scale and importance of the role and to attract experienced candidates

- The Director will have responsibility for building and leading the NCSC, further developing the operational capacity and expertise of the NCSC and supporting the development of the policy and legislative framework relating to cyber security in the State

- A single HQ for the NCSC which will provide the required security infrastructure and capacity. The NCSC will be accommodated within the Department’s new Headquarters (HQ) in Beggars Bush

- Developing a 5 year technology strategy for the NCSC that scopes its internal requirements, and its relationship with academia and industry

- In addition to the recruitment of additional fulltime roles, a cyber security graduate training programme will be initiated by the NCSC in 2021, with four computer science graduates recruited each year on contracts of three years duration.

My Department is now progressing implementation of these measures.

The number of staff working in the National Cyber Security Centre in each of the years 2016 to 2020 and to date in 2021 is set out in the table below.