Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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203. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if will report on his intended approach regarding the implementation of the Critical Resilience Directive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22791/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As Minister of Defence, my Department has responsibility for transposing the new Critical Entities Resilience (CER) Directive. This directive creates a framework for EU member states in ensuring that critical entities are able to prevent, resist, absorb and recover from disruptive incidents, whether they are caused by natural hazards, accidents, terrorism, insider threats, or public health emergencies. The CER directive has a wide scope comprising energy, transport, banking, financial market infrastructures, health, drinking water, waste water, digital infrastructure, public administration (central government), food (large-scale distribution) and space.

Key elements of this directive include that Ireland will need to adopt a national strategy and carry out risk assessments to identify entities that are considered critical or vital for the society and the economy. On their part, critical entities once identified will need to carry out risk assessments of their own and take technical, security and organisational measures to enhance their resilience and notify incidents. Member States will also need to provide support to critical entities in enhancing their resilience.

Given the scope of the Directive, we have chosen to coordinate our approach to it through the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning which has a subgroup focused on resilience. This allows for a whole of government approach and the sharing of information concerning the operators of essential services and critical infrastructure.

The Office of Emergency Planning is undertaking preparatory work for the transposition of the Directive using the Government Task Force mechanism with national enactment anticipated by the deadline of 17 October 2024.