Address to Seanad Éireann by An Taoiseach
Seanad Éireann — 2023-09-28
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Gerard P. Craughwell (IND), Labour Panel

I thank the Taoiseach for being here and I will not take a lot of his time. There are two issues close to my heart and the first is the Defence Forces. We saw the wonderful operation off the south-west coast in recent days. We have to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to remunerating members of the Defence Forces. We have to rebuild the organisation, particularly the Navy. We have €300 million worth of ships tied up in Cork, not able to put to sea because we do not have crews, which is not good.
Second, I ask the Taoiseach to consider the development of a cybersecurity fund in the near future. I ask for €1 billion to be ring-fenced over ten years for cybersecurity training and education, including academia, skills and training. I will leave it at that as we do not have a lot of time.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2023-09-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:12+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-09-28