William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)
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298. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the measures in place to enhance cybersecurity and protect critical national infrastructure from emerging threats, including any role envisaged for the Defence Forces in this area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29261/26]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Cybersecurity and the protection of critical national infrastructure from emerging cyber threats is primarily the responsibility of the Department of Justice, Migration, and Home Affair with practical cybersecurity delivered through the National Cyber Security Centre and An Garda Síochána as the lead agencies. The National Cyber Security Centre is responsible for advising and informing Government, IT and Critical National Infrastructure providers of current threats and vulnerabilities associated with network information security.

While the primary role of the Defence Forces with regard to Cyber Defence relates to the protection and security of its own networks and systems, on request, the Defence Forces can provide support to both the National Cyber Security Centre and An Garda Síochána , in accordance with the Defence Forces Cyber Defence Strategy and under its aid to the civil power mandate.

Additionally, operators of essential services have roles and responsibilities to ensure the resilience of the services they provide. In March, my Department published the National Strategy for the Resilience of Critical Entities 2026-2029. The Strategy aims to ensure that the providers of essential services, identified as Critical Entities, implement measures that enable them to mitigate, respond to, and recover from incidents that could cause significant disruption.