Organisation information
Critical Entities Resilience (CER) Regulations
From Office of Emergency Planning
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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.
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 |
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.ie cer@defence.ie
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.
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.
