Artificial Intelligence
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-28
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Niamh Smyth (FF), Cavan-Monaghan

It is true there will be disruption in the labour force and in business because of AI. The disruption and impact will be greater if businesses do not embrace AI. We have the observatory piece in our Department, OBAIR, which is looking at mitigating that. The AI will impact the workforce required. We will look at how to retrain and upskill staff so they are not left facing redundancy or anything like that. I am not in denial, and I do not think anybody in government is in denial, about the impact this will have.
Our colleague, the Minister, Deputy Lawless, launched this week AI Ready which is to get down to the nitty-gritty with individuals in the workforce so nobody feels a digital divide and to help people who want to explore AI to upskill within a business. That is all part of our suite of measures in place to help the worker and the company.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-28