Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)
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47. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the progress his Department has made regarding the establishment of a joint cyber security command and other actions related to cyber security contained in the commission on the future of the Defence Forces. [6106/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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As recognised in the Report on the Commission on Defence Forces and accepted by Government, the Defence Forces needs to be capable of delivering military effects across the cyber domain. To that end the Defence Forces have established a new Joint Cyber Defence Command. This new Command will be able to conduct full-spectrum operations to robustly defend against cyber threats, support Defence Forces operations at home and overseas, and enhance national cyber defence resilience and contingent capabilities.

Following the establishment of this Unit, a Defence Forces Cyber-Defence Strategy 2024 to 2027 was published last year. This Strategy sets out a comprehensive road map to ensure that the Defence Forces achieve operational capability in this new domain.

To give effect to this Strategy, my Department has approved the assignment of 19 Defence Forces specialist posts to kick start the operation of this Unit which will be headed up by an officer of General rank. I am advised that many of the senior officers are already in place and the remaining personnel should be in situ in the coming months. In addition, my Department is engaging with the Public Appointments Service to recruit 10 civilian cyber specialists who will be embedded in this new Cyber Unit, it is intended that such posts will be filled as soon as possible.

In order to ensure that this new Unit has the appropriate support infrastructure, my Department approved the development of a purpose built CIS Office Block in McKee Barracks. This facility will consolidate in one location a number of current CIS operations and provide the necessary high-end infrastructure requirements to support future operations, in the cyber domain. The procurement of same will commence in the coming weeks.

I should also mention that officials from my Department and the Defence Forces work closely with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), in their capacity as lead government department cyber security in Ireland, to support measures to address cyber challenges.

I am satisfied that from a Defence perspective we are developing a positive trajectory to ensure that the new Cyber Command Unit is well positioned to meet the ambitious targets set out in the Cyber Strategy.