The Department of the Taoiseach does not release information about cyber attacks, Enda Kenny has told the Dáil.

He said there had been evidence of attacks in certain places in Ireland.

“Regarding security in the Department of the Taoiseach, information is never released in respect of any attacks, given that it would lead to those who conduct such business,” he said.

“There are only two websites that provide information from the Department of the Taoiseach, namely gov.ie and merrionstreet.ie.”

He said the department had developed security policies and procedures to put safeguards in place to mitigate the risks and threats as far as possible. A new security awareness training programme had been piloted and it was planned to roll out this training to all staff in the department.

Mr Kenny was responding to Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin who noted other EU member states had been subject to “cyber intimidation” and in Latvia “a Russian-based attack brought down the country’s internet and paralysed official business”.

Mr Martin said there had been a serious escalation in the use of cyber intimidation between countries. “It is striking that all of the attacks have been directed against countries with free elections and high levels of personal freedom.”

He added that the “online crusaders have no interest in tackling authoritarian states, which has been evident over the past 12 months or so”.

‘Protect the citadel’

The FF leader said that authoritarian states could suppress the internet in some aspects “and can take steps to protect the citadel, so to speak. Democracies are far more vulnerable.”

He asked the Taoiseach if there had been an engagement with the US over the alleged hacking of Democratic Party headquarters by other countries, and with other EU countries.

Mr Martin said such cyber attacks had the potential to do untold damage “and hold countries to ransom if it continues at the current pace”.

The Taoiseach told him that “in my time at European Council meetings there has never been a discussion about governments being attacked although officials may be in contact with each other” but he said Minister of State Dara Murphy looked after questions on EU data protection regulation and implications for IT security.

Mr Kenny also acknowledged his limited abilities with technology. “While I can manage the fundamentals of the iPhone I could very quickly get lost in many of these fields.”

He added: “I am a mere citizen with a scope that is appropriate to myself to write and send messages and receive phone calls and so on. I am not an expert in this field and I admit it.”