Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-21
============================================================

Helen McEntee (FG), Meath East

First, I acknowledge that a number of hundred people have lost their jobs this week. I have no doubt that it is a very difficult time for them and many of their families. I stress that our enterprise agencies, first and foremost, are trying to assist in whatever way they possibly can those who are impacted to help them to find alternative employment. This includes sharing the skills profiles of the employees who have been impacted to companies who may be hiring with multinationals in IDA client-based or indigenous companies throughout Enterprise Ireland. On top of that, IDA Ireland is in regular contact with the leadership, as is the Minister, to offer any support we can in this regard. We all know that this something that has been coming down the track for some time. The introduction of AI means there is going to be a restructuring in companies like this. What we are trying to do - I mentioned this earlier - is focus on how we as a country and the EU as a whole can be more competitive. This means not only looking at other markets, but also embracing AI to see how new forms of jobs can come out of this as well. It is quite competitive and is one of our priorities; it is why we will be hosting an AI strategy summit in October of this year.

---

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/2026-05-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:58+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-21