Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-15
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Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

This is a particular concern. The promotion function is very different. The core tension in this body is that, on the one hand, it is meant to be a regulatory body and, on the other hand, it is literally being given a promotional role, which we know has been described by the predecessor body as involving the financial interests of this sector as an overriding national imperative. That is a direct tension. On the one hand, it is the body responsible for ensuring that standards that have been set out collectively at European level are met and, on the other hand, it is pursuing the national imperative in terms of business promotion in this area. That is a real tension and that is why it is appropriate that we pick out that particular function of promoting AI innovation and literacy.
I do not agree that our proposal would interfere with the educational pieces because in the Minister of State's response, she described how there is a narrow definition of what is confidential information that explicitly includes commercially sensitive information.
Somebody who is hired to do an educational programme is not going to accidentally come into the commercially sensitive information and I do not see them using commercially sensitive information. They are not coming under the definitions of the kind of information. There is not a question that they are dealing with these kinds of pieces. The other purposes the Minister of State described do not map onto it. Where there is a potential clash is between commercially sensitive information and AI innovation and the idea that you can disclose commercially sensitive information for the purposes of promotion of innovation in AI. Put those two pieces together. That is the problem. The problem is the function - we have talked about the functions of the body - and the information.
Regarding the idea that this could inadvertently affect school programmes, it will not because they do not involve commercially sensitive information. It is the CEO and the staff of the office who have commercially sensitive information. Those who benefit from that potentially commercially sensitive information are commercial operations. There is an issue if that information is being disclosed potentially to commercial operators because the desire is to promote and foster AI innovation. If they are given commercially sensitive information to support their innovation, that is a problem in itself. However, it is a problem if a consultant who has not had to go through a process in relation to conflict of interest, and who is not under this Bill properly bound by conflict-of-interest measures, is in a position to disclose that information. That is the problem. As the Minister of State described it, it remains an issue. It is an example of some missteps being made at the earliest stage of this new body, which will affect both its ability to deliver proper regulation and public confidence in its operation. That is why we were looking to have safeguards put in here. It is unfortunate that the Minister of State was not able to accept those ones. What safeguards is the Government going to put in place tackle these issues?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:16+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-15