Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the establishment of both the Cabinet security committee and the national security council and the Taoiseach's strong commitment and that in the programme for Government to take seriously the defence and security of the State, something that is very important to this Oireachtas, particularly in light of modern global geopolitical challenges. This is not just about boots on the ground anymore but about cyber threats the State will face and hybrid warfare. I hope the Taoiseach will give us assurances that he will continue to adequately resource the National Cyber Security Centre. We will face a lot more cyber threats. There should be learnings from the experience with the HSE. Four states are responsible for approximately 40% of cyberattacks and the spread of misinformation and disinformation - Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

Under national security, I raise critical infrastructure in our maritime area. Some 16 transatlantic cables run through Irish waters, carrying 95% of traffic between Europe and North America, which leaves us exposed. As we rightly invest heavily in offshore renewables, it will be critical that if we develop offshore turbines, the security of that sector is also protected. Representing the only constituency that has offshore turbines in our territorial waters, it is critically important that they are protected into the future. In the past two years, there have been a number of instances of Russian vessels operating in Irish waters. In April 2023, two Russian-flagged ships, the Umka and Bahktemir, were detected off the coast of Galway. In May 2023, four Russian naval vessels, including the Admiral Grigorovich, a warship armed with cruise missiles, were located in Irish waters. In November 2024, the Yantar, a spy ship, was observed accompanying the Admiral Golovko. There had to be inspections of some of the pipelines in our waters after that visit. In January 2024, our Air Corps had to be deployed to monitor Russian shadow fleet vessels. Even on 20 March this year, it was reported that Russian-linked ships were seen dropping anchor near some of the undersea cables. I ask the Taoiseach to give us an assurance that the security of that critical undersea infrastructure and offshore renewables will feature as part of the national security committee's work.

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