Castlebridge

Is your Data Governance programme where it needs to be?

Join John Ladley for hard-won, practical advice for organizations tired of governance programs that promise much and deliver little.

19 March | Ferrycarrig Hotel, Wexford
Limited tickets remain. dataleadersummit.ie/event/data-l...

⌛ 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱!
Join Dr Anthony Mazzarella at our 3rd annual 𝘿𝙖𝙩𝙖 𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨’ 𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙞𝙩 (19 Mar, Wexford) for a half-day masterclass: 𝘋𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘎𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘐 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.
Learn how to scale AI responsibly with practical, real-world guidance. 🎫www.dataleadersummit.ie/master-class-schedule-2026/

Full-day masterclass at the Data Leaders’ Summit with @castlebridge-chief.bsky.social: Designing Resilient Human-Centric Governance of Data & AI -moving beyond compliance to governance that adapts under pressure.
📅 19 March | Wexford
🎫 dataleadersummit.ie/master-class-schedule-2026/

Legislating for the Tiresome I wasn’t going to do a #DataProtectionDay post. But the discussion we had on the podcast this week got me thinking again about why data protection matters and why how we conceptualise and operationali...

I've written a short blog post inspired by the podcast discussion that mixes #DataProtection and #DoctorWho, which will surely pique @tupped.bsky.social's interest. castlebridge.ie/insights/leg...

Making Waves for Data Protection Day Podcast Episode · Talk Data To Me (The Castlebridge Podcast) · 26/01/2026 · 39m

If you'd rather go direct to the podcast, it's on Apple and Spotify and other places.
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/m...

Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5v8O...

Making Waves - Data Protection Day Episode Direct Links to Podcast Episode: About this Episode In this thought-provoking episode of the Talk Data To Me podcast for World Data Protection Day, Daragh is joined by Dr Blessing Mutiro—fresh from su...

It's #DataProtectionDay. A few days ago @castlebridge-chief.bsky.social got together with @tupped.bsky.social and Blessing Mutiro from the team to chat about #CollectiveHarms and questions of governance theory and traditions in #DataProtection practice. #GingerRights castlebridge.ie/podcasts/mak...

Google to pay $68 million over allegations its voice assistant eavesdropped on users Class-action lawsuit alleged that Google's voice assistant illegally recorded and shared private conversations with advertisers.

Google to pay $68 million over allegations its voice assistant eavesdropped on users

www.cbsnews.com/news/google-...

Making Waves - Data Protection Day Episode Direct Links to Podcast Episode: About this Episode In this thought-provoking episode of the Talk Data To Me podcast for World Data Protection Day, Daragh is joined by Dr Blessing Mutiro—fresh from su...

#DataProtectionDay today. The #TalkDataToMe podcast has been taken off the shelf and dusted down for 2026. castlebridge.ie/podcasts/mak... (with special guest @tupped.bsky.social)

⏰ Early Bird tickets for the Data Leaders’ Summit close 31 Jan.
Limited seats. Two days of candid discussion, hands-on masterclasses & practical AI insights - plus a complimentary night at the Ferrycarrig Hotel.
Don’t miss it. Join us in Wexford this March.
🎫 dataleadersummit.ie/event/data-l...

This reminds about the time that this very important service almost ceased to exist because the responsible petson in the Dept of Justice forgot - literally just forgot - to make the funding application to the EU one year

A photograph of the cast of Sleeping Beauty on stage with Wexford Panto

A fun evening out for the opening night of #Wexford #Panto. Hard to believe it’s over 5 years that @castlebridge.bsky.social has been sponsoring this fantastic production put on by a dedicated team of volunteers and local performing arts groups. www.wexfordpanto.com

Worth every penny.

Keynote speakers announced for the 2026 Data Leaders’ Summit!
💡Dr Angela McCourt | John Ladley | Sarah Clarke | Dr Tony Mazzarella
Two days. Real-world insights from top industry leaders.
🎟️ Buy Super Early Bird tickets now – incl. 1 night at the Ferrycarrig Hotel
dataleadersummit.ie/event/data-l...

a baby is sitting in a crowd with a woman holding him and screaming yes . Alt: a baby is sitting in a crowd with a woman holding him and screaming yes .

Congratulations to our colleague Blessing Mutiro who successfully defended his PhD thesis in #DataProtection law at @tcddublin.bsky.social @adaptcentre.bsky.social this morning. Well done Dr. Mutiro.

Here's an article Blessing wrote which covers some of the thinking edpl.lexxion.eu/article/EDPL...

Charters, Principles, and Resolutions Daragh O Brien shares some insights on how Charter, Principles, and Policies in a data governance context have a lot in common with New Years' Resolutions and actually doing the reps at the gym.

@castlebridge-chief.bsky.social has written a thing about Charters, Principles, and the challenge of translating that into practice from a #DataGovernance perspective castlebridge.ie/insights/cha...

We would encourage other Irish organisations to look at the Charter for Digital Inclusion, what it means for your approach to doing business with data and technology and consider taking the 15 minutes required to fill out the form on the DETE website. www.forms.gov.ie/en/689ef1450...

When we signed up to the Charter we didn't get to meet a government Minister though. We just filled out the Microsoft Office Form on the DETE website because we agreed with all the principles in the Charter.

We signed up to all 6 commitments under the Charter.

Our #DataLeaderSummit in March will touch on topics of inclusion and sustainability as technology evolves and this wave of AI/GenAI breaks. Details at: dataleadersummit.ie

Pleased to announce that we started 2026 by formally signing up to the Irish Government's Charter on #DigitalInclusion. It wasn't that hard to do and doesn't require us to do anything beyond our core mission to ensure that people are empowered to effectively use data and technology as tools.

This was a nice thing to see over Christmas - people planning to travel to #Wexford from quite a way away to attend our #DataLeaderSummit in March.
Some additional international industry 'names' will be there as well - details to be announced over the coming weeks.

The Bizarre Story of 'Vasa,' the Ship That Keeps On Giving 'Vasa' sunk in front of horrified onlookers on this day in 1628, claiming 30 lives

This is an interesting read for many reasons (I’m a history nerd and a student of strategic management) www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/b...

Expect to see it featuring in a future blog post or podcast. Because there’s resonance with many things I’m working on.

Ireland AI Governance: Preparing for the Future Ireland has the AI governance blueprint. Join the Data Leaders Summit March 2026 to prepare Irish organisations for the National AI Office and EU Presidency

@castlebridge-chief.bsky.social has a new Insight where he discusses how the Oireachtas Committee Interim Report on AI echoes themes from our #DataLeaderSummit and the National Data Governance Roadmap we contributed to. castlebridge.ie/insights/loo...
Interesting times ahead in 2026.

An interesting thread on the impact of lobbying and where power lies in Ireland. That picture, that's us. Our beautiful lake, polluted. Despite all of the concrete decades-long evidence to suggest the derogation should not be extended so we can begin to restore water quality, here we are.

OpenAI warns new models pose 'high' cybersecurity risk OpenAI on Wednesday warned that its upcoming artificial intelligence models could pose a "high" cybersecurity risk, as their capabilities advance rapidly.

OpenAI warns new models pose 'high' cybersecurity risk
www.reuters.com/business/ope...

🫧 What if the AI “bubble” doesn’t pop… but just wobbles? 🫧
That wobble might be the most useful moment yet.

Tech cycles always leave something valuable for those who pay attention.

💡Read Daragh's latest blog to explore what the wobble means -
castlebridge.ie/insights/whe...

At some point, the Govt has to learn that the way to keep people safe from information they might encounter isn't to prevent them ever encountering it, but to teach them how to deal with it, or how to choose to avoid it for themselves. 4/n

Our 2026 #DataLeaders Summit will take place in #Wexford on the 18th and 19th of March. Tickets will go on sale next month as we finalize some details in the background. See dataleadersummit.ie for details and to register interest so you can be kept up to date on the event.

Please watch "For All Mankind" on AppleTV so that it gets 10 seasons and a movie.

Screenshot from thegist.ie Nonetheless, when Viktor Obán's Hungary took the Presidency of the European Council for the back half of 2024, it announced that passing the ChatControl proposal and breaking encryption for eveyone in the EU was one of its main priorities. We're all used to Hungary acting as an illiberal spoiler inside the EU, but in this case, it nearly got a majority of votes from the other member state governments to pass the plan. It was only when the Dutch spy agency actually came out and warned their own government that the plan would threaten the country's own cybersecurity. that they flipped from support to abstain and the Hungarian plan lost its majority. Oh, and of course, we found out Ireland was one of the countries supporting Hungary's plan.

I think it was under-reported (ie, not reported) that we came within a hair’s breadth of implementing a complete EU surveillance state *and* undermining the security of all messaging encryption on the 12th Dec last year.

Ireland was backing Hungary’s plan to do it.

www.thegist.ie/the-gist-a-b...

The topic of #DataManagement and #NetZero is on the agenda for our #DataLeaders Summit in #Wexford in 10 days.

See Https://summit.castlebridge.info for details.

The ‘Coolglass Effect’: Some Implications for Public Sector Data Strategy Daragh discusses the data strategy implications for public bodies of a recent High Court Decision on climate action and windfarms

Latest Insights post by @castlebridge-chief.bsky.social looks at #DataStrategy, #ClimateAction and the implications of a recent High Court decision for Irish public sector #DataLeaders castlebridge.ie/insights/the...