'Ireland is a sitting duck and Russia knows it': Analysts explain why our schools and hospitals ...

Ireland’s lack of defence strategy will be exposed this week, security analysts believe, with one saying Ireland is the EU country that is most vulnerable to hybrid attacks ‘by a country mile’.

Dr Eoin Drea, a senior researcher at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, predicted that health, education and transport hubs such as hospitals, schools and airports are likely to be targeted with cyber threats this week as 50 Government leaders gather for a European Political Community (EPC) meeting in Dublin.

It comes as the Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill warned yesterday that schools and hospitals must prepare for threats, following a week where Irish airlines and media outlets were subject to bomb hoaxes.

Dr Drea told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘I would not be surprised if these threats continued over the course of week in order to cause maximum inconvenience around the EPC meetings. Some sort of hybrid cyber interference are the obvious steps.

‘Unfortunately, Ireland is like a sitting duck. We have very limited cyber defence capabilities, no real defensive strategy – and this is well known throughout Europe, and no doubt in places like Russia also.

‘Should the attacks continue week – and actively disrupt the EPC meetings – then I think our fellow EU members will really understand just how lax Ireland has been in terms of basic defence capabilities.’

Dr Eoin Drea, a senior researcher at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, predicted that hospitals, schools and airports are likely to be targeted with cyber threats this week as 50 leaders gather for a European Political Community (EPC) meeting in Dublin

Sinéad O’Sullivan from think-tank Security Ireland also told the MoS last night that Ireland is the most vulnerable country in Europe security-wise by a ‘country mile’.

She said malicious actors will gain ‘massive political advantage’ in continuing bomb threats as the country gears up to host leaders including Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney this week.

She warned that if Russia is responsible for bomb threats to media organisations this week it has found a vulnerability and ‘once that is known those responsible will keep moving into that vulnerability until [they] get what [they] want’.

Ireland is on the ‘back foot’ in every way in terms of security, she said.

The expert warned that because Ireland doesn’t have a threat landscape [a total set of security risks], it can’t answer who is responsible and ‘what these non-State actors, or potentially even State actors, want’.

Sinéad O’Sullivan from think-tank Security Ireland also told the MoS last night that Ireland is the most vulnerable country in Europe security-wise by a ‘country mile’

Dr Eoin Drea, a senior researcher at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, predicted that health, education and transport hubs such as hospitals, schools and airports are likely to be targeted with cyber threats this week

Former Army Ranger and Independent TD Cathal Berry meanwhile told the MoS that what happened this week is the ‘same pattern as the Copenhagen EU summit last year’.

He said the ‘same’ interference occurred the week before the EU summit in Copenhagen last year ‘before the additional security arrangements were put in place’.

Although the leaders will not begin meeting until Thursday, the security operation around these events, which has been described as ‘unprecedented’, will get under way on Tuesday.

Last Friday, staff at various media organisations in Ireland were evacuated after receiving bomb threats.

Media outlets in Dublin, including RTÉ, were evacuated after emails were sent to various newsrooms in Ireland and the UK.

A heavy Garda presence was at the scene of RTÉ in Donnybrook, Dublin 4 with armed response gardaí on site.

Gardaí were also on site at other locations that were targeted by the threats.

Media outlets in Dublin, including RTÉ, were evacuated after emails were sent to various newsrooms in Ireland and the UK

It followed multiple bomb threats sent to airlines over the past days, including Irish airlines and flights to and from Ireland .

Ms O’Sullivan warned that Ireland lacks the ‘most basic, basic thing which is a defence strategy’.

‘There is no other country that wouldn’t have something as simple as that. Ireland is on the back foot here because we can’t even respond if we have a credible state-to-state threat.’

The security expert warned that if Vladimir Putin's Russia is responsible for this week’s alarming events it will continue its threats.

The security expert warned that if Vladimir Putin's Russia is responsible for this week’s alarming events it will continue its threats

‘If it is Russia or Ukraine there is a massive political advantage of continuing. And if you know you can do it, why would you not continue?’

She added that while the finger of suspicion immediately fell on Russia we ‘should not be handwaving whether or not it is Russia’.

‘It could be South Korea, North Korea or Israel.

‘It could literally be any actor. It could be a teenager in their basement in Ireland, and these are all various different types of threats that come with different types of response.’

It followed multiple bomb threats sent to airlines over the past days, including Irish airlines and flights to and from Ireland

At the Fine Gael Ard Fheis yesterday, there was a growing acceptance of the likelihood of attacks.

Minister Carroll MacNeill admitted the focus of malign operators could be on Ireland week.

‘Of course the focus comes to Ireland because of our presidency of the European Union and the European Political Community being here this week,’ she told reporters at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis yesterday.

‘We have seen in other countries that, you know, hospitals and schools have been targeted in hybrid attacks, and we just want to condemn every element of that.

'Every part of our society has to take stock in relation to the threats that exist right across Europe.’

Minister Carroll MacNeill admitted the focus of malign operators could be on Ireland week

Enterprise Minister Peter Burke also warned Ireland was facing ‘renewed and serious threats to entities like banks, the supply and export of goods and all forms of enterprise from AI to agriculture’.

He also slammed the ‘irresponsibility’ of the Opposition’s attempts to limit Ireland’s response to the current threats.

He told the MoS yesterday: ‘Gardaí have warned the threat is substantial and has been increasing over recent weeks. This is also the situation across Europe.

‘We need to understand that the nature of war has utterly changed. It has evolved from being boots on the ground.

‘War is now engaged in the cyber-world and a whole variety of new hybrid attacks across land, sea and air.

‘Ireland is no longer separate from Europe like Robinson Crusoe on his island.

‘The Opposition response to this threat is irresponsible.’

Enterprise Minister Peter Burke also warned Ireland was facing ‘renewed and serious threats to entities like banks, the supply and export of goods and all forms of enterprise from AI to agriculture’

Mr Burke’s concerns were echoed by Minister of tate Frank Feighan who warned: ‘We need to understand we are no longer isolated from Europe or European conflicts.

‘The sea is no longer a protection. There is significant concern that the precedent set by the HSE shutdown will occur again. Nothing is safe, major enterprises, security and supply for IT and pharmaceutical companies, banks, anything with a cyber footing is under threat.’

Mr Feighan warned we may not know the full extent of any future attack or whether attacks are underway.

He said: ‘For all we know companies are under attack and simply haven’t told us.

‘The big concern currently is not what we know but what we don’t know and what companies haven’t told us.’

On Friday night, Taoiseach Micheál Martin expressed confidence that the political summit will pass off without incident.

‘We’re confident that it will go off safely,’ he said.

A Government spokesperson denied yesterday that Ireland was a sitting duck in terms of security.

A spokesperson told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘The Government is satisfied that the State’s strategic approaches in defence and security continue to be aligned with the changing and complex domestic and international security environment.

‘The Council on National Security, chaired by the Taoiseach, receives regular, detailed updates on the security situation and on strategic national and international security and defence policies from the Garda Commissioner, the Defence Forces’ chief of staff and the director of the National Cyber Security Centre and relevant senior officials.

‘The council met earlier this week and received a full, current threat assessment and a detailed briefing on the security arrangements put in place by the gardaí and the Defence Forces to manage security for week’s EU Presidency meetings.’