Top 5 Irish tech policy stories of the week

Online Health Taskforce established

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has announced the establishment of an Online Health Taskforce to develop a public health response to harms caused to children by certain types of online activity.?The Taskforce has been asked to consider the range of social, mental health, physical health and sexual harms and to recommend strategic responses to address these harms. These recommendations may include national guidelines, regulation, legislation, education, awareness campaigns, as well as additional health and social care supports.?The Taskforce will hold its first meeting this month and will deliver an interim report within six months with its final report being submitted in September 2025.

General Scheme of the National Cyber Security Bill 2024 published?

The General Scheme of the?National Cyber Security Bill 2024 has been published. The Bill will be the vehicle for the transposition of??Network and Information Security Directive EU 2022/2555 (NIS2 Directive).?NIS2 aims to modernise the existing legal framework regarding cybersecurity?to allow it to keep up with increased digitisation and an evolving cybersecurity threat landscape and will bring a significant shift in how cyber security will be governed across the EU and in Ireland.?The Bill?also provides for the establishment of the National Cyber Security Centre, Ireland (NCSC-IE) on a statutory basis and for related matters including clarity around its mandate and role in general.

Taoiseach to host two online safety summits this month

Taoiseach Simon Harris will host two online safety summits this month regarding regulation of social media. The first summit will be with regulators involved in the tech space as well as relevant government departments and state agencies. The second summit will be with groups who advocate for children.?

Online Safety Code passes through TRIS process

The?Technical Regulations Information System (TRIS) process in relation to the Online Safety Code has concluded. The Code received no comments from the EU Commission or other EU member states and Coimisiún na Meán intend to adopt and apply the Online Safety Code to video-sharing platform services based in Ireland later in the Autumn.

Fewer business leaders prioritising AI

A survey from the Irish Management Institute found that fewer business leaders are prioritising AI in their strategic outlooks. Just three out of ten of those surveyed considered AI a strategic priority