Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 March 2023
27. Deputy John Brady asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if he will outline any concerns he has in relation to whether Ireland has the capacity to ensure that undersea data cables passing through Irish waters are secure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14316/23]
View answerThe Deputy will appreciate that, for sound reasons, it is not the practice to comment on the security infrastructure in place for undersea cables nor would it be in the public interest to do so.
The Naval Service, as the State's principal sea-going agency, is tasked with a variety of defence and other roles. While the main daily tasking of the Naval Service is to provide a fishery protection service in accordance with our obligations as a member of the EU, it also carries out a number of other non-fishery related tasks in tandem with maritime surveillance. This is augmented by the Air Corps Maritime Patrol Squadron in patrolling the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) using the two CASA CN 235 maritime patrol aircraft.
The Department of Defence and the Defence Forces continue to engage with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications in relation to the protection of Ireland’s offshore energy infrastructure and data cables. While the Defence Forces have limited sub-sea capabilities, enhanced maritime patrolling of the Irish Sea in the vicinity of priority offshore energy infrastructure is taking place by a mixture of air and naval platforms.
The Naval Service has no unilateral powers of enforcement in relation to damage, criminal or otherwise, to undersea cables or other communication links in Ireland’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
On the future development of subsea capabilities, the Commission on the Defence Forces report considers that the step up to level of ambition 2, should seek to deliver enhancement of subsurface capabilities to monitor subsea cables. The report states that to achieve this would mean the naval fleet should have enhanced air, surface and subsurface search capabilities, with the latter allowing the Naval Service to monitor activity in the vicinity of subsea cables. In order to achieve these desired capability effects associated with a move to LOA 2, specific recommendations made by the commission were accepted in principle by the Government when it published its high-level action plan in July 2022.
One of the early actions identified in the high level action plan is the commencement of the Strategic Defence Review. This review will look at defence policy across all domains and inform future capability requirements and enable a broader debate on the State’s overall defence policy. Department officials are currently working with their Military counterparts with a view to progressing this action. The first stage of this review will be a security environment analysis to be conducted by an interdepartmental working group which has been established for the purposes of the review.
