Ireland’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) published draft Risk Management Measures guidance intended to support implementation of NIS2 requirements for essential and important entities. The guidance positions the measures as a minimum baseline, while noting that the level of implementation should be proportionate to risk exposure and potential societal and economic impact.
The document emphasises management-level support and governance integration, reflecting the direction of NIS2: cybersecurity risk management should be embedded in day-to-day operations and supported at board level, not treated as a purely technical function. It also references continuous improvement expectations — risk assessments should be regular, and treatments should be reviewed and adjusted where they do not deliver expected mitigation.
For organisations likely to fall within scope once NIS2 is transposed into Irish law, the guidance is a practical starting point. It helps teams translate directive language into concrete control expectations, supporting internal planning and gap analysis. For organisations outside scope, it still provides a useful benchmark: customers and larger partners may align supplier requirements to these baselines.
Acompli perspective: The most common failure mode in cyber compliance programmes is not lack of controls; it is lack of evidence and traceability. If you can demonstrate risk assessments, board oversight, control implementation, testing, and remediation tracking, you are already aligned with the direction NIS2 is enforcing. Building those artefacts as structured records reduces future compliance cost and speeds up audits and incident reporting responses.