Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 January 2024
139. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the funding for the National Cyber Security Centre; how this is being delivered, and for a year-by-year breakdown of funding. [2829/24]
View answerThe National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a unit within my Department, is the lead Government agency for cyber security including coordination of the national response to major cyber security incidents.
The NCSC has a series of roles, including monitoring, detecting and responding to cyber security incidents in the State, building resilience and awareness, and engaging internationally.
The Current and Capital funding budget for the NCSC is set out in the table below.
|
Year |
Current |
Capital |
Total |
|
2024 |
7,900,000 |
2,800,000 |
10,700,000 |
|
2023 |
5,500,000 |
1,950,000 |
7,450,000 |
|
2022 |
2,500,000 |
2,600,000 |
5,100,000 |
|
2021 |
2,500,000 |
2,600,000 |
5,100,000 |
The NCSC’s budget allocation for 2024 will support a range of key initiatives to deliver improved cyber security resilience across Government and Society including,
• Continued investment in building capacity to monitor and respond to cyber security incidents and enhancing situational awareness and threat intelligence capabilities.
• Giving full effect to the NIS2 Directive including implementation of a new supervisory and enforcement regime with sectoral regulators designated as National Competent Authorities in the transposition of the Directive
• Roll out of a financial support programme for SMEs and other societal stakeholders, to improve cybersecurity resilience and facilitate innovation through the National Coordination Centre (NCC-IE) project.
• Publishing a whole-of-Government strategy for the development of the cyber security industry in Ireland to ensure the sector achieves its potential for growth.
• Expansion of Coordination and Response Networks (COREs) across critical sectors of society to pool resources, knowledge, experience, and expertise in order to raise the overall level of security in the State.
• Analysis and mitigation of strategic cyber risks at national and EU level by conducting data-based risk assessments of strategic level threats and risk associated with supply chain security and relevant vendors.
• Implementing new measures to continue the development of relevant cyber skills to fill the skills gaps and support the potential growth of the cyber security industry in Ireland.
