Artificial Intelligence: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-28 ============================================================ Ollie Crowe (FF), Industrial and Commercial Panel I welcome the Minister of State. She is a regular visitor at this stage and is doing an excellent job. The Government has taken a logical approach to ensuring we maximise the use of AI to ensure we fully realise the benefits. As members will be aware, in 2025 the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, advanced significant AI policy initiatives related to the programme for Government's commitment to harness the digital and AI revolution for modern public services and economic growth. There is huge scope and potential for AI to transform how SMEs operate day to day. That will require resources and support so that these businesses and their staff have the necessary capacity to fully utilise AI. As the Minister of State has outlined, the national digital and AI strategy is currently being reviewed and updated to ensure it is appropriate in the goals and ambitions it sets out. The updated strategy will include a number of priority targets to drive effective adoption of digital and AI across the economy and society over the years ahead. The challenge of ensuring that SMEs have the resources required to build capacity should be a priority target. As we are all aware, SMEs are the backbone of the Irish economy across the country and every opportunity we have to provide better resources to those businesses needs to be fully taken. I am sure the Government will take the necessary measures relating to AI to ensure that happens. In seeking to maximise the potential of AI, we must also ensure appropriate safeguards for its use are in place, as would be needed with any resource. Members will be aware that budget 2026 secured €1.5 million in start-up funding to establish the AI office of Ireland by August 2026. I believe that office will be essential in ensuring safe, suitable usage. As the Minister of State outlined, it will co-ordinate EU AI Act implementation, promote transparent and safe AI adoption, and oversee a national AI regulatory sandbox where innovators can test solutions with compliance experts. The regulation of artificial intelligence Bill 2026 is an important step in this area and is required to fully implement and enforce the EU AI Act in Ireland. Timely and effective implementation will reinforce Ireland's commitment to responsible AI development and strengthen Ireland's position as a centre of regulatory excellence. A whole-of-government approach remains essential. Ireland's strategic role makes this legislation significant. As we have heard, effective AI Act implementation supports competitiveness and Ireland's attractiveness as a location for innovation by providing a coherent regulatory framework. As Ireland prepares for the 2026 EU Presidency, maintaining momentum is vital. There are serious concerns about AI and privacy or illegal content. We have seen this become a major issue in recent weeks with the controversy about Twitter, or X, as it is now named. The European Commission is investigating, which is welcome, but it is important for the Government to take swift and decisive action on this matter to make it clear that such illegal or harassing content will not be tolerated for a moment. I know the Attorney General and the Minister for justice are examining whether the established legal framework is sufficiently robust to protect people from digital harms like these. It is vital that works move quickly and that legislation is brought forward immediately if needed. This is a sensitive topic which has affected a significant number of women, especially, across the country already. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-28/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:33+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-01-28