6. Deputy Catherine Callaghan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the progress on developing a new national cybersecurity strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49231/25]

Sentiment score: 0.25

I thank the Minister for his answer. As we all know and as he said, cyber-resilience is really critical in this modern world. We need robust cybersecurity to protect our digital systems and data from unauthorised access and misuse and from theft and damage due to the increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. Cyberattacks are increasing in frequency, complexity and destructiveness and can compromise our critical infrastructure across geographical borders without even being present in this jurisdiction. That is the real threat that we are facing as a nation. The national cybersecurity strategy the Minister outlined is the vision and the roadmap for how to effectively enhance cybersecurity and resilience across public bodies, essential services, businesses and households. I recently had a quick look at the Defence Forces' cyberdefence strategy for 2024 to 2027, and I was very impressed by their ambition to ensure that their strategy delivered cyber capabilities that could prevent, monitor, detect, defend against and recover from cyberattacks. Does the overall national cybersecurity strategy that is being currently developed have the same ambition for collective resilience? Will it be ready by the end of 2025?

Sentiment score: 0.13

In the Department of justice, we know An Garda Síochána leads the domestic intelligence and national security operations, while the NCSE manages cybersecurity. In the Department of Defence, the Defence Forces handle external and military intelligence. In the Department of the Taoiseach, the national security secretariat provides strategic oversight and co-ordination. Will the Minister please outline the current level of collaboration between these three Departments? Is he confident that their collective cyber-resilience is sufficient to ensure that the proposed new national cybersecurity strategy will effectively protect the State and its agencies from nation state actors, for example, Russian military hackers and cybercriminal adversaries, those groups that are financially motivated to carry out cyberattacks for profit, of which Wizard Spider, which was responsible for the HSE attack, is a prime example.

Sentiment score: 0.60

13. Deputy Catherine Callaghan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration for the progress that has been made on the national roll-out of the See Something, Say Something initiative; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54168/25]

Sentiment score: 0.25

I ask the Minister to offer a report on the progress that has been made on the national roll-out of the See Something, Say Something initiative, as outlined in the programme for Government.

Sentiment score: 0.42

I thank the Minister very much for his answer. As he says, See Something, Say Something is a really good initiative. The national roll-out of it is committed to in the programme for Government. It is a community initiative which enables the public to text details of illegal dumping, antisocial behaviour and other incidents directly to the authorities, as the Minister said. It is designed to support crime prevention and community safety. The initiative has been warmly received in all the locations it has been introduced in so far, with An Garda Síochána in Louth in particular noting that the service provided a welcome means of communicating with the public and with enhancing the services ongoing community engagement. The Minister can therefore imagine why I would like to see this initiative effectively rolled out to my constituents, and indeed to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle’s as well, in Carlow and Kilkenny. According to the Meath experience of the initiative, it seems the local community safety partnerships are seen as the best way to roll out the initiative at present. The LCSPs in Carlow and Kilkenny should be coming online at the end of the month and I wonder whether the Minister would support a call to see this initiative being made an early priority for all local community safety partnerships.

Sentiment score: 0.41

I thank the Minister. As already outlined, the initiative has been enormously successful. While I commend the Minister's ambition in expanding community policing across the country it is important to note there is still a real need for more community gardaí in our rural towns and villages who are as visible and contactable as possible, as far as the people they serve are concerned. Of the most recent graduate class from Templemore, only one has been stationed in Carlow, with zero new graduates coming to Kilkenny. That said, I accept there is another class graduating from Templemore next week and Garda numbers are being built up across the country and it is important to acknowledge that. It is really important links to An Garda Síochána such as the See Something, Say Something initiative provide a means of ensuring the Garda and local communities feel connected. Many people in Carlow and Kilkenny will recall a time where practically every village had a local garda. We know that time has passed, but using a service such as this we can re-establish the presence of An Garda Síochána in the day-to-day rhythms of rural life in Ireland. Even if people never use this service, knowing it is there provides significant comfort, security agus síocháin to our citizens. What steps will the Minister be able to take to ensure See Something, Say Something is rolled out as soon as possible to constituents in Carlow and Kilkenny?

Sentiment score: 0.36