Press release

National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) hosts its first annual conference in Dublin Castle June 2024

From: Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
Published on: 25 June 2024
Last updated on: 12 April 2025

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) today hosts its first annual conference in the Printworks, Dublin Castle, attended by approximately 350 representatives of the public sector, research institutions, and industry. The purpose of the conference is to promote cyber-security awareness, facilitate stakeholder engagement, and share industry insights.

With its initial line-up, the conference has established itself as the premier cyber-security event of the Irish public sector, with cyber-security leaders and professionals meeting for a day of networking, sharing knowledge, and collaborative efforts with the purpose of advancing the understanding of the current state-of-play within the cyber-security realm across those attending.

To aid in this purpose, the conference focuses into three key themes:

resilience and the threat environment
regulation with a particular focus on the NIS2 Directive, and
technological change, particularly the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI)

Drawing on a broad range of specialisms within the cyber-security sector, amongst many others, speakers at the conference include:

the Director of the NCSC, Richard Browne
the government’s Chief Information Officer, Barry Lowry
the team leader for the European cyber security agency (ENISA)’s Knowledge and Information directorate, Dr. Apostolos Malatras, and
the senior research scientist at CeADAR UCD, Ireland’s national centre for Artifical Intelligence (AI), Dr Quan Le

Encouraging the cross-pollination of different views, opinions and backgrounds, panel discussions at the conference are exploring topics such as the current cyber-threat landscape, the imminent introduction of Network and Information Security (NIS2) Directive, and the role AI is playing in transforming cyber security.

An initiative of the EU co-funded National Cybersecurity Coordination and Development Centre Project (NCC-IE), the conference is conscious also of the role it can play in encouraging and developing the wider industrial capacity in cyber security, and build submissions received during the recently closed consultation on the draft national industrial strategy. Accordingly, the conference is delighted to be in a position to host the Executive Director of the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC), Mr Luca Tagliaretti for a keynote address.

Speaking at the event, the Director of the NCSC, Richard Browne noted:

"I’m delighted that we were in a position to welcome so many of those central to Ireland’s public sector cyber-security ecosystem to Dublin Castle today.

"The interest in the conference was such that we could have sold it out many times over. What that tells me is that there is both a recognition and a hunger out there for individuals working in the sector to continually challenge themselves, expand their knowledge, and explore new areas that are opening up.

"It was our intention that this event showcased the work of the NCSC, highlighted current challenges, and created a space for dialogue with and among stakeholders. I’m confident in stating that we met those aims in this, our first year of hosting a conference."

Notes

Following the hosting of the inaugural NCSC conference on Tuesday, 25 June, Dublin Castle sees further meetings, but at European Union level.

These meetings, facilitated by the NCSC on the State’s behalf, are in the context of the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC) and the supporting Member State structures as set out in Regulation (EU) 2021/887.

The first, on Wednesday, 26 June, sees the National Co-ordination Centres (NCC) Network meeting, followed by a two-day meeting of the ECCC Governing Board.