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Critical Entities Resilience (CER) Regulations


On 15 October 2024, the Tánaiste and Minster of Defence signed the European Union (Resilience of Critical Entities) Regulations 2024 (S.I. No. 559 of 2024). The regulations transpose EU Directive 2022/2557 (Critical Entities Resilience Directive), which came into effect on 17 October 2024.

The Resilience of Critical Entities Regulations are part of a European Union-wide effort to increase the resilience of essential services that provide vital societal functions in all Member States. The regulations will apply to the following sectors of the economy: energy, transport, banking, financial market infrastructure, health, drinking water, wastewater, digital infrastructure, public administration, space, and large-scale food production, processing, and distribution.

A key element of the new regulation is the development by the relevant stakeholders of a Critical Entities resilience strategy for their sectors. This strategy will lay out the governance framework, identification criteria, specific obligations, and resilience enhancement measures, particularly around information sharing and developing collaborative public and private engagement. The Department will also develop an enhanced national risk assessment process to aid in identifying these entities.


Competent Authorities

The table below identifies the Competent Authorities designated for each of the 11 sectors. To note, because of the nature of some of the sectors, some of them have more than one Competent Authority that will have responsibility for different sub-sectors.

Sector Competent Authority
Energy Commission for Regulation of Utilities
Transport Irish Aviation Authority
Commission for Railway Regulation
Marine Survey Office
National Transport Authority
Banking Central Bank Ireland
Financial Market Infrastructure Central Bank Ireland
Health Health Information and Quality Authority
Health Products Regulatory Authority
Minister for Health
Drinking Water Environmental Protection Agency
Waste Water Environmental Protection Agency
Digital Infrastructure Commission for Communications Regulation
Public Administration Ministers of Government Departments
Space Minister with responsibility for the space sector
Large-Scale Production, Processing and Distribution of Food Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Single Point of Contact

The Office of Emergency Planning in the Department of Defence will act as the Single Point of Contact for Ireland concerning the CER Directive and can be contacted at cer@defence.iecer@defence.ie


The National Strategy for the Resilience of Critical Entities

The Department will develop, in partnership with the relevant competent authorities and Departments, a Strategy for the Resilience of Critical Entities, which will be delivered in Q1 2026. The strategy will be coordinated across government through the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning.


National Risk Assessment

The National Risk Assessment is conducted every 3 years as a requirement of EU Decision 1313/2013/EU. It is conducted by the Office of Emergency Planning, in consultation with all government departments and agencies and is approved by the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning This Risk Assessment will be aligned with the resilience strategy being developed for the Critical Entities.

European Union (Resilience of Critical Entities) Regulations 2024
European Union (Resilience of Critical Entities) Regulations 2024
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