Is this country prepared for threats posed by Russia to our national security? These are real threats to the country and must be taken seriously. There was an increase in Russian shadow fleet activity in Irish-controlled waters last week. There were three ships, in fact. Our geography no longer protects us as it once did. We are very dependent on other countries to support us regarding maritime and air defences. We need to take steps to move away from these dependencies.

This will help our independence. It will also support and foster our neutrality. We live in a rapidly changing world and we must respond to these changes in order to protect our way of life and democracy, which we value so much.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I discussed it earlier during Leaders' Questions. European security and defence is a live issue in Europe. From the onset of the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine, there has been an exponential growth in cyberattacks, both on private sector installations, companies and businesses and on public sector areas. There has also been clear evidence of hybrid warfare, essentially, and increased emergence of drones and violation of airspace in a number of EU member states, including Denmark, Belgium, Ireland and France. There was an attack on a railway track in Poland, which is clear as to the culprits. There have been increased arson attacks in eastern European states. It is very clear that there is a security threat to Ireland. Our security threat is to our critical undersea infrastructure, our gas imports and to security of other areas. We are very much aware of it. The country at large needs to increase its awareness of it also.