I move: That, pursuant to Standing Order 233, Standing Order 187 is modified to provide that it be an instruction to the Committee to which the Communications Regulation Bill 2022 may be recommitted in respect of certain amendments that it has the power to make amendments to the Bill which are not relevant to the general subject matter, to amend the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983 to provide for payments to be made to An Post to support the post office network and to enable funding granted under the…

I will try to contact the Chief Whip to arrange that. Will we adjourn for five minutes?

Does that mean we cannot move the next business forward?

I move amendment No. 1: In page 9, line 21, after “2002;” to insert “to amend the Digital Hub Development Agency Act 2003;”. The effect of amendment No. 60 to the Digital Hub Development Agency Act 2003 is to reduce the membership of the agency from 14 to eight. As the nature and focus of the work of the agency necessarily narrows during the period ahead of dissolution, there is a lower requirement for a board size originally provided for in the Digital Hub Development Agency Act. Amendment No. 60 also proposes a r…

I note the comments of the Deputy and I agree substantially with them. There is a vital role for the Government in education in IT. It is our investment for the future in a successful economy. We need to educate people and provide them with the skills they need for a knowledge economy. That is a focus and responsibility for the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, among others. We have to make sure we are regenerating locations such as the urban centre in which…

There is no financial implication as a result of this amendment regarding the DHDA. I realise the Deputy is referring to other parts of the legislation but there is no money message required in respect of the amendments we are discussing.

I move amendment No. 2 In page 9, line 21, after "2002;" to insert the following: "to amend the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983 to enable funding to be made available for the purposes of maintaining the post office network and countering consequences of withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union;". The Government decided on 31 May 2022 that €10 million per annum would be provided to the post office network over a three-year fixed term – 2023 to 2025 – to support a sustainable nationwid…

I thank the Deputy for his support for these amendments.

I move amendment No. 3: In page 9, line 26, after “Regulation” to insert “and Digital Hub Development Agency (Amendment)”.

I move amendment No. 4: In page 9, line 27, after “Act” to insert “(other than Parts 10 and 11 )”.

I move amendment No. 5: In page 10, between lines 28 and 29, to insert the following: “ “high-risk vendor measure” has the meaning given to it by section 25; ”. Before I discuss amendments Nos. 5 to 9, inclusive, I wish to draw my colleagues' attention to amendment No. 6, which is now included in a substitute list. This is to amend a cross-referencing error, which had previously read "a direction under section 32(2),”.", and which now reads "a direction under section 33(2),”." I am introducing amendment No. 5 in or…

Deputy Ó Murchú is concerned that the powers of designation rest solely with the Minister and that there should be some degree of oversight. The legislation as written provides for independent judicial oversight as well as consultation throughout the process. Where a vendor is designated, an independent judge can overturn that. The power does not rest solely with the Minister, which is not how other countries implemented the same objective. Instead, they made it so that their respective ministers solely could make …

Deputy Ó Murchú asked about consultation and the importance of consultation. Consultation on what constitutes a critical component will include detailed consultation with the industry. There are provisions for the Minister to consult with any person the Minister considers appropriate in assessing the risk profile of a vendor. That would likely, in the vast majority of cases, include vendors. Section 23 provides for the Minister to consult with providers and vendors before making any high-risk vendor designations or…

The way the process will work is it is focused on prevention. There is no compensation provided for operators who have equipment in their network that needs to be removed. We do not want to be in a situation where we are ordering operators to remove equipment. We want to be in a situation where the security measures we take are for the future. This is future-facing legislation about what we put into our network in the future. It would be a very extreme case where we would ask somebody to remove something that is al…

I move amendment No. 6: In page 11, between lines 4 and 5, to insert the following: “(b) a high-risk vendor measure, (c) a confidentiality requirement of the Minister under section 26(1), (d) a direction under section 33(2),”.

I move amendment No. 7: In page 18, between lines 36 and 37, to insert the following: “(1) Neither a decision or a requirement of— (a) the Commission under this Part or Part 4, or the Code Regulations (other than Regulation 98 and 99), or (b) the Minister under Regulation 70, 76 or 100 of the Code Regulations, shall be challenged, including as to its validity, other than by way of an appeal under this section. (2) For the avoidance of doubt, in respect of a decision or requirement referred to in subsection (1) no p…

We are discussing the designation of critical components within our national electronic communication network. The discussion we are having around this amendment relates to when we are selecting which are critical components, which are the most vulnerable parts of our communications network, which are the weakest parts and which would it be most devastating were they to be attacked. We are considering whether to list those administratively or by order, that is, via a statutory instrument or executive order that wou…

Deputy Ó Murchú may wish to come back in.

I will respond first to Deputy McNamara. He suggested that we should know which are the critical components that need to be excluded because they are dangerous and should not be in the network. I want to clarify this point and give the Deputy an explanatory memorandum. A number of things are happening here. The first is the designation of critical components. These are parts of the network which are critical to its function. They are not vendor-specific. We might say, for example, that a wireless tower is a critica…

I move amendment No. 25: In page 22, line 35, to delete “Part” and substitute “Act”. The amendment will extend the definition of "high-risk vendor measure" to the rest of the Bill. I introduced amendment No. 26 following concerns on Committee Stage about transparency. It will require the Minister to specify, in the high-risk vendor notice, that he or she considers it necessary to take the measures contained in the order to control risks to the security of electronic communications networks or electronic communicati…