Artificial Intelligence
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-16
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Aindrias Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West

The data suggests it is not a collapse in opportunities, but more a fundamental restructuring of how graduates enter the workforce. Research indicates that almost half of employers are reducing their entry-level roles, directly linked to AI adoption, and 83% of recruiters say that hiring is now more selective and strategic. While almost 40% of employers increased recruitment earlier this year, that growth was concentrated in specialist roles.
Even in sectors like IT and telecommunications, where 56% of employers are increasing hiring, those roles are increasingly focused on experienced and highly specialised candidates and over a quarter of firms are recruiting specifically in AI and machine learning. The challenge is clear. The opportunities are not disappearing but the channel into them is narrowing. Will the Minister set out what targeted interventions are being developed to ensure graduates and entry-level workers are not choked out of the labour market as that transition accelerates?

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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/2026-06-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-16