Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 October 2023
90. Deputy Emer Higgins asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence his Department’s defence strategy and protocol for the undersea cables regarding the Naval Service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42606/23]
View answer103. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence to provide an update on Ireland's submarine cables; if they have been put at risk in recent months by hostile countries travelling through Irish waters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42610/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 90 and 103 together.
As Minister for Defence, I chair the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning (GTF) supported by the Office of Emergency Planning (OEP) in my Department. A subgroup of the GTF was assigned responsibility to develop guidance on critical infrastructure resilience in 2017. The subgroup produced the first guideline document on critical infrastructure resilience in February 2019. This document was subsequently revised and updated in July 2021.
While the primary responsibility for safeguarding critical infrastructure rests with its commercial owner or operator, the guideline document provides the methodology for operators of essential services to follow to enhance their resilience. It also outlines that it is the responsibility of each Government Department to foster links and work closely with the semi-state and private sector operators of critical infrastructure, in their respective policy areas, to enhance the protection of critical infrastructure from a wide variety of threats.
The Office of Emergency Planning (OEP) in my Department is working to transpose the new Critical Entities Resilience Directive, which is focused on enhancing the physical resilience of entities that provide essential services in the state. In advance of the enactment of this Directive and because of the increased threat to critical infrastructure, the Department of Defence is working with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications to stress test critical infrastructure in the energy sector in Ireland. These stress tests will be completed before the end of 2023.
In October 2022, following an extraordinary EU Energy Council meeting to discuss the EU’s energy security in response to the attacks on Nordstream 1 and 2, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications sought support from my Department in relation to additional measures that could be put in place to ensure that critical off-shore infrastructure including data cables are protected.
My officials 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 infrastructure. While the Defence Forces have limited sub-sea capabilities, enhanced patrolling of the Irish Sea in the vicinity of priority offshore infrastructure is taking place by a mixture of air and naval platforms.
Ireland is a strong proponent of the important role the EU can play in support of international peace and security and of the UN. It is essential, therefore, that Ireland remains fully engaged in all CSDP processes and contributes fully to the development of the policy in order that we can influence its evolution. It is in this context, we have been enhancing our engagement with the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), which we joined in 2017.
Against this backdrop, there are currently a number of EU initiatives in development focused on the protection of critical offshore infrastructure, including a new Critical Seabed Infrastructure Protection (CSIP) project within the EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) framework in which Ireland holds observer status. This aims at increasing the EU’s operational efficiency in the protection of such infrastructure. Separately, NATO has established a Critical Undersea Infrastructure Coordination Cell (CUIC) which is also expected to be open to non-NATO members, such as Ireland, as well as industry, and civilian stakeholders. Ireland’s participation is under active consideration.
The Defence Forces are aware of a number foreign military ships which have passed through the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in recent months. The Defence Forces routinely monitor these foreign vessels with both Naval Service assets and Air Corps maritime patrol aircraft as well as remote monitoring in the Naval Operations Command Centre.
Any vessels transiting Irish waters must do so in compliance with international law and may be subject to sighting and observation by the Naval Service and Air Corps without their innocent passage being infringed.
