Artificial Intelligence
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-19
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Peter Burke (FG), Longford-Westmeath

AI has the potential to have a profound impact on society, as well as providing significant opportunities to ensure we remain competitive and future-proof our industrial base through its adoption. That is why it is equally important to ensure we address the challenges Al poses around safety, privacy and fundamental rights in the public and private sectors. Harnessing the benefits of AI must go hand in hand with protecting the people it affects.
The new national AI and digital strategy was launched yesterday. It will work across government and cover key pillars including the delivery of public services, enterprise, digital infrastructure and skills. As AI is a cross-cutting technology, the recommendations have implications across a wide range of policy responsibilities spanning a number of relevant line Departments.
Much work has been done by Government, and will continue to be done, to put a strong guardrail in place for the development and use of AI in Ireland. This includes development of regulations, standards, guidelines and codes of practice.
Our ambition in the new national digital and AI strategy is to enhance digital literacy and basic skills not only for the economy but across all levels of society. It is envisaged there will be an enhanced dialogue with the public and key stakeholders, including in the context of the strategy. Our goal is to build public trust in AI and ensure people feel included in its development. Most importantly, we want societal values and concerns to directly inform AI research and how technologies are adopted.
To help inform Government, the AI advisory council provides independent expert advice on artificial intelligence policy and helps to build public trust in AI. Our wider national governance framework for AI, including Ireland’s implementation of the EU AI Act, is designed to uphold fairness, transparency and strong protections for health, safety and fundamental rights, ensuring the development of safe, ethical and human-centric AI systems.

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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/dail/2026-02-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:40+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-19