Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)
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21. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the progress his Department has made regarding the establishment of a joint cybersecurity command and other actions related to cybersecurity contained in the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. [31325/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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My colleague the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration has the lead role for cyber security in Ireland, with inputs in the security domain from An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces. The National Cyber Security Centre, which is part of that Department is the authority responsible for cyber security in the State, including incident response, cyber resilience and information provision.

In the context of the Defence Forces, the Report on the Commission on Defence Forces recommended, and the Government accepted, that the Defence Forces need to be capable of delivering military operations in the cyber domain. To develop this capability, the Defence Forces have established a Joint Cyber Defence Command. This new Command will be capable of conducting the full-spectrum of cyber defence operations at home and overseas, to enhance national cyber defence resilience and contingent capabilities.

My Department has approved the assignment of 19 Defence Forces specialist posts to allow this new unit to develop its operational capacity, led at General Officer Commanding rank. I am advised that senior officers are already assigned to the Centre with the remaining personnel expected to be in place within the coming months. Additionally, my Department has engaged 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, with competitions currently underway. Interviews were held recently for the position of Cyber Defence Lead at the grade of Principal Officer.

My Department and the Defence Forces will maintain this positive trajectory to deliver the operational capacity of the new Cyber Command and ensure that it is well-positioned to meet the ambitious targets set out in the Cyber Defence Strategy.