As in all Departments, the senior Minister has overall responsibility. I was very glad in recent weeks to be able to appoint Deputy Smyth as Minister of State with specific responsibility for communications and the circular economy. I was particularly interested and glad to have that because he also has a similar role in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, where he has designated functions and responsibility for our public ICT systems and also the procurement role. There is a real crossover there at th…

The first response was about 6.30 a.m. and the incident had occurred about 2.30 a.m or 3 a.m. The NCSC and the Department of the Taoiseach were involved at the very early stage at about 6.30 a.m. We then had further meetings from 9 o'clock that morning and every element of the State was involved. It was first thing Friday morning, as soon as we became aware of the incident.

To back that up, the key is that it has to be an international response. The response in this case included other governments providing us with examples of the same malware and what they did to protect against it. That is the way this works. It is a global phenomenon and problem. The nature of the Internet is that it is that connected network. A key thing coming out of this incident is strengthening our defence systems but also using it as an opportunity to further enhance our use of the technology while making it …

I thank the Deputy for his words. I share his view that the real concern is for the patients in our health system. He is absolutely right to focus on their needs at this moment. They should be reassured that there is no shortage of resources, international or local. There is a lot of expertise in this area in the country. Many of the companies and others with that expertise have offered to help and are engaging with the Department of Health at the front line clearing out and restoring the systems. We have contracte…

Implementation of the capacity review will primarily be a responsibility for our Department. I take its advice about what can be published. My instinct is to be as transparent as possible. The National Cyber Security Centre shares a substantial amount of information, often in a secure way, giving different levels of transparency depending on security implications, so we will follow the same approach in the publication of the capacity review. The National Security Analysis Centre is involved with all of Government. …

Deputy Connolly is entitled to ask questions. That is why we are here tonight. It is important that we have that capability and also that we try to achieve common purpose as we address what is still a critical situation. For those patients in Galway, and for that reason, we have to be careful here in what we say. Various Members, including Deputy O'Donnell, have said they were not able to get as much information as they wanted from the earlier committee meeting. This is because we have to be careful as this is an o…

No.

I thank all the Deputies who have contributed to this debate and for the approach they took in doing so. I did not hear anyone who was fundamentally opposed to the Bill or to what we are looking to do. What I heard reflects what is out there among the people of Ireland, namely a desire for us all to contribute and to be helped in doing so without anyone pointing the finger. Deputy Harkin put it well when she said we need to bring people with us and show how we can all collectively do this. Throughout this debate a …

That is a good question. There is a second key characteristic to this. That is that we will see connection with our neighbours. It is part of a wider international system. The scale of change that is coming is that there will be a connection to solar power from the south, nuclear power in France and hydroelectric power in Scandinavia and the Alps. The new technology and the innovations that have taken place-----

It is not.

EirGrid is a company I have mentioned which is a leading operator in this. It is applying for a 700 MW interconnection with France, which is largely funded by the European Union. We are similarly going to add an interconnection with the UK and that is only the start of it. It is only in the next few years that those interconnectors will start to come on board. This is new cable technology. The reason it is a better economy is that a cable of that size could take up to 2 GW of power and ship power over long distance…

Instead, every energy Minister I talk to, including those in Germany, Britain, America, France and China, believes that the future fuels that will be used are the likes of hydrogen and ammonia, which can be converted through renewable power-----

-----using electrolysis into alternative things like that-----

-----which can provide the backup power we will need. I mention that historic announcement by ESB, equivalent in my mind to the announcement on the building of Ardnacrusha, to convert Moneypoint to be a collection point for that offshore wind and to be a transition point where we convert that comparative advantage we have in offshore wind into hydrogen power. We could use that power in Ardnacrusha, Irish Cement or the Moneypoint power stations. That gives us the stability, better economy and security for our future…

There are also examples of that in Tipperary and elsewhere.

It is not because of a shortage of ambition in the political system. We set aside €250 million in the budget for meeting these targets.

We will continue to adapt, and we will have to do it in a variety of ways, to make sure we do get to every house. The advantage of this first and foremost is in health. It will be a fundamental change and improvement in air quality and the living conditions of our people. At the end of this process, when we end up with a housing stock that uses electrical heat pumps with no emissions-----

-----and no fumes, and when we combine this with well-insulated houses, there will be dramatic improvements.

As Deputy Fitzmaurice said earlier, we have sat beside each other over the years and we have got into the habit of engaging in such banter. I apologise to the Acting Chair because I am encouraging it but it is good banter. This is the engagement we will need to make sure we do get to every house. Every place matters and every person matters in this. There will be no looking down, pointing fingers or holier than thou. This transition is critical and the way it will work is what I have heard here today from every Dep…

They are at the moment but they are coming down in price because every car company will switch to them. If they do not they will be gone, they will be history, they will be toast, they will be finished, good night and goodbye. They are all going to switch to them so the prices will come down and the lifetime costs will be lower. It will be cheaper. The only way it will work is if it is cheaper and better, and I am absolutely convinced this will be the case. This is not enough. We also need to switch modes and get o…