Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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45. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the progress that has been made in relation to plans for the protection of critical State infrastructure in the coming months and years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57665/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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As Minister for Defence, I chair the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning (GTF) supported by the Office of Emergency Planning (OEP) in my Department. A subgroup of the GTF was assigned responsibility to develop guidance on critical infrastructure resilience in 2017. The subgroup produced the first guideline document on critical infrastructure resilience in February 2019. This document was subsequently revised and updated in July 2021.

While the primary responsibility for safeguarding critical infrastructure rests with its owner or operator, the guideline document provides the methodology for operators of essential services to follow to enhance their resilience. It also outlines that it is the responsibility of each government department to foster links and work closely with the semi-state and private sector operators of critical infrastructure, in their respective policy areas, to enhance the protection of critical infrastructure from a wide variety of threats.

The OEP is also the focal point for the new European Critical Entities Resilience Directive which aims to enhance the resilience of critical entities that provide services essential for vital societal functions or economic activities in the internal market. This Directive will create a framework to support Member States in ensuring that critical entities are able to prevent, resist, absorb and recover from disruptive incidents, whether they are caused by natural hazards, accidents, terrorism, insider threats, or public health emergencies. This new Directive is expected to be legally adopted at the end of this year with a 21-month transposition period to bring it into Irish law. Because of its role as focal point for this new Directive, the OEP also ensures that information concerning the resilience of critical entities is communicated in appropriate ways to Government Departments and sectors of relevance. This includes advisories for the information of operators of essential services and critical infrastructure as and when required.

While there is no specific threat to Irish critical infrastructure, given the international context, it is clear that good practice necessitates national authorities across the European Union ensure the resilience of their critical infrastructure. Therefore, it is the Government position that it is prudent for operators of critical infrastructure to examine andenhance their resilience by increasing their physical security arrangements. An advisory has been issued from the OEP in my Department to that effect.

Also of note is that the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces continue to engage with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications in relation to the protection of Ireland’s offshore energy infrastructure and data cables. While the Defence Forces have limited sub-sea capabilities, enhanced maritime patrolling of the Irish Sea in the vicinity of priority offshore energy infrastructure has commenced. The enhanced patrolling is being conducted by a mixture of air and naval platforms.