In recent years, increased attention is being paid to the importance of protecting offshore infrastructure from threats. Offshore energy and communications infrastructure, such as wind farms and subsea cables, are increasingly being viewed as targets by hybrid threat actors. Incidents such as the damage to the Balticconnector cable and Nordstream pipelines have heightened awareness of the threat to critical offshore infrastructure. In response, European states are increasing their cooperation to ensure that such infrastructure is secure. Against this backdrop, Ireland is drafting a National Maritime Security Strategy to consider how best to protect both existing, and planned future, infrastructure. In this panel discussion, experts will discuss the threats to critical offshore assets, and what we can do to better protect them from hybrid risks.

This event has been organised in conjunction with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ireland.

About the Speakers:

· Commodore Eduard de van der Schueren, Programme Director for the Protection of North Sea Infrastructure at the Dutch Ministry of Defence

· Vice Admiral (Ret.) Mark Mellett, Former Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces

· Jacqui McCrum, Secretary General of the Department of Defence

· Dr Camino Kavanagh, Senior Fellow with the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and a Visiting Senior Fellow with the Dept. of War Studies, King’s College London.