195. Deputy James O'Connor asked the Minister for Defence the way in which the new Maritime Strategy will address current maritime defence and surveillance deficiencies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53900/26]

As Minister for Defence, I launched Ireland’s first National Maritime Security Strategy on 25 February. My vision for this strategy is that it will support the protection of a secure and sovereign Ireland, where our people and interests are protected, and where our European and international partners can rely on us to uphold the rule of law in the maritime domain. This first strategy focuses on risks and threats to Ireland’s national security and defence, including the protection of our critical maritime infrastructure, particularly critical undersea infrastructure. To support this focus on national security and defence, the strategy includes a number of strategic objectives such as to defend the State's maritime domain and to enhance Ireland's maritime domain awareness.

My focus is now on implementation of the strategy and the operationalisation of its accompanying action plan which includes key actions to improve our maritime defence and surveillance. For example, the EU’s Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE) will be a key enabler for increasing maritime awareness through intelligence gathering and information sharing to counter threats in the maritime domain, including with respect to the Shadow Fleet. Our Defence Forces are currently developing a node to access CISE, which is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2026. The Defence Forces already have access to the MARSUR network which provides for information exchange between participating navies.

These new information streams are in addition to new capability development plans acquiring new sonar and radar technology for the Defence Forces that will increase our ability to monitor the waters around us.

I also want to highlight that there will be legislation enacted shortly which will ensure that the Defence Forces have certain enforcement powers when operating at sea in light of growing maritime threats, in particular to our critical maritime infrastructure.

Currently the Defence Forces do routinely monitor all foreign vessels in our maritime domain with both Naval Service assets and Air Corps maritime patrol aircraft, as well as remote monitoring on a 24/7 basis from the Naval Operations Command Centre in Haulbowline.

There are further actions in the Strategy which will be implemented over the coming months and years.