An estimated three quarters of the northern hemisphere's undersea cables pass through Irish waters. We are very much at the crossroads between the EU and North America, with significant traffic over and back along those cables. Will the Tánaiste outline the measures being taken to ensure that they are not interfered with?

I propose to take Questions Nos. 62 and 71 together.

I thank the Deputy for raising this question. As he will be aware, Ireland, like many other countries in Europe, has witnessed a fundamental change in our security environment in the past year, with an increased focus on maritime security and the protection of subsea cables. The security of Ireland’s subsea infrastructure is a matter of utmost importance to the Government.

As I informed the House on 22 November during a debate on the consultative forum on international security, it is the Government's intention to develop a maritime security strategy, with the necessary resourcing, accompanying legislation and decision-making systems in place. This strategy will have a particular focus on subsea infrastructure.

Following the attacks on Nordstreams 1 and 2 in October 2022, my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, sought support from my Department for additional measures that could be put in place to ensure that critical offshore infrastructure, including data cables, was protected. As a result of this, enhanced patrolling of the Irish Sea in the vicinity of priority offshore infrastructure is taking place by a mixture of air and naval platforms.

For the Deputy’s awareness, the Naval Service, as the State's principal seagoing 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 state of the EU, it also carries out a number of non-fishery-related tasks in tandem with maritime surveillance. Aerial monitoring and surveillance of the Irish exclusive economic zone is carried out by the Air Corps maritime patrol squadron. Two new C-295 maritime patrol aircraft, equipped with state-of-the-art surveillance and communication equipment, were delivered to the Air Corps in 2023 to replace the existing CASA CN-235 aircraft. Following an intensive period of training and verification, the new aircraft have recently been certified to commence operations.

My priority as Minister for Defence is to ensure that the operational capacity of the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service is maintained and developed. This is to enable the Defence Forces to carry out the roles assigned by the Government. A great deal of work is under way to ensure that we have the required capabilities, with equipment projects under way. We will make further capital acquisitions shortly in terms of strategic airlift and so forth.

The efforts to get the two new naval vessels and the aircraft and to have them deployed have been helpful, positive and a constructive step. Another step would be to identify what underwater capabilities are needed. I understand that the development of advanced capabilities in that respect is a big job, as it involves getting people trained and acquiring hardware. What measures are being taken to advance our subsea capabilities as a supplement to our other work?

What engagement has the Department had with other organisations, be they the cables’ owners or other state bodies, on sharing capabilities and information? Is there such engagement and, if so, will the Tánaiste outline it?

A civil-military working group has been established to progress a project for the enhancement of subsea awareness capabilities, as recommended by the Commission on the Defence Forces and referenced in the detailed implementation plan, which was published last November. That project is under way.

One of the projects under NATO’s Partnership for Peace is on maritime security and relates specifically to subsea cables. We have to collaborate with other countries and share information and expertise. It is a complex and high-tech area. The Deputy is correct that private sector companies will have to provide more information. There is maritime law on the ownership of data, data traffic and so on. Additionally, in the EU PESCO projects that we are participating in, we highlight the subsea area, including subsea cables, when it comes to maritime security.

There is a bit more work to be done on engagement with the private sector on the subsea cable issue. Internationally, there is engagement at EU level. The resilience and protection of critical infrastructure has become a higher priority issue for the EU since the pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine. Regarding the new individual tailored programme between NATO and Ireland, that is, the Partnership for Peace, it has been agreed that the Department of Defence will lead cross-government work on managing the new resilience partnership areas. This will complement the Department’s cross-government work on the EU’s critical entities resilience directive on protecting critical infrastructure and utilities. A number of EU initiatives are focused on the protection of critical offshore infrastructure, including a new critical seabed infrastructure protection project within PESCO, which I referenced earlier.

There is collaboration, but the Deputy is correct, in that collaboration with companies needs to be developed more.