Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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31. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the actions being taken to strengthen maritime and cyber surveillance to safeguard Ireland’s critical undersea infrastructure; the extent of cooperation with EU or NATO partners in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60463/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy, that my Department has taken the lead in the development of a National Maritime Security Strategy following identification of maritime security as a priority in last year’s Defence Policy Review. I anticipate that key elements of this new strategy will be enhancing maritime domain awareness and protecting critical maritime infrastructure, especially critical undersea infrastructure. This strategy is being developed in consultation with national stakeholders, including with the National Cyber Security Centre in order to ensure cyber security is taken account of in the development of the strategy.

Also in support of the strategy’s development, officials in my Department have undertaken extensive outreach to identify and explore opportunities to cooperate with our neighbouring countries and with international institutions through our Individually Tailored Partnership Programme. This significant international engagement has allowed us to access examples of best practice and to learn from the extensive experience in monitoring and protecting critical undersea infrastructure that many of our neighbours have developed.

An early action in this regard was my approval in April for Defence Forces’ participation in the EU’s Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE). Joining CISE will support better monitoring and surveillance of growing threats at sea and will help improve the Defence Force’s maritime domain awareness. Ireland already participates in the Maritime Surveillance (MARSUR) project which shares valuable classified information amongst navies and we also take part in a number of EU PESCO (Permanent Structure Cooperation) projects in the maritime domain. These projects support enhanced cooperation with EU participating states thus benefiting Ireland in the protections of undersea critical infrastructure by enhancing maritime surveillance, situational awareness, response effectiveness and integration of systems.

Also for your awareness, my Department organised an advanced research workshop on the crisis management of undersea communications cables in collaboration with Iceland’s Defence Directorate. My Department also sponsors the Valentia Island Symposium on the security and resilience of undersea communications cables, which provides a forum for government and industry to discuss this important topic.

In terms of capability development my Department is investing in sonar capability for the Naval Service. This capability will be used to detect objects near cables and pipelines in Irish territorial waters and the Exclusive Economic Zone. This new acquisition will enhance awareness below the surface, contributing to the overall maritime picture available to Naval Service and the wider Defence Forces. Officials in my Department are also significantly progressing the Military Radar Programme, which includes maritime radar. In addition, my Department is preparing a Capability Development Programme, which will identify, at a high level, the capability requirements for the Defence Forces out to 2040 across all domains of operation, including the subsea domain.

Of note also is that the Naval Service continues to conduct maritime surveillance patrols in the seas around Ireland. In addition, the Defence Forces routinely monitor foreign vessels in our Exclusive Economic Zone with both Naval Service assets and Air Corps maritime patrol aircraft, as well as remote monitoring on a 24/7 basis from the Naval Operations Command Centre in Haulbowline.