Mr. Art O'Leary:

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach as ucht an cuireadh a bheith ag an gcruinniú tábhachtach seo. Chaith mé deich mbliana shona sa seomra seo agus is cúis áthais dom a bheith. I thank the Chairman for his very kind invitation to be with the committee today. I spent ten very happy years in this room in a previous life, so it is a great pleasure to be back again.

This is a timely moment for An Coimisiún Toghcháin. Only days ago, we concluded our public awareness work for the presidential election - our eighth electoral event in 33 months. Technology is accelerating and expectations are rising yet the central question facing us remains constant. Artificial intelligence, like every transformative tool since the stone axe, brings significant opportunity and undeniable risk, but when placed within the delicate machinery of democracy, those risks become sharper and the responsibilities heavier.

What do we talk about when we talk about AI? We talk about chatbots and deepfakes; synthetic text, voices and images; and extraordinary efficiencies and equally extraordinary vulnerabilities. We talk about how political actors might use AI, and how malign actors might weaponise it to distort debate or undermine confidence. Beneath all of that, however, we are really talking about one thing and that is trust. Trust is the foundation on which democratic legitimacy rests and in Ireland, that foundation is remarkably strong. Across a century, the State has built a widely shared belief that our elections are robust, lawful and independent. After November’s general election, 94% of respondents told us that elections are conducted in accordance with the law, 88% said they are well-managed and 96% expressed confidence in the secrecy of the ballot. These figures reflect decades of careful stewardship, and they represent a duty to protect that trust in every future electoral event.

We are exploring how AI can strengthen our own work and how it might support future constituency reviews, streamline analysis or improve how we communicate with voters. However, our approach begins with key fundamentals. Ireland’s paper-based system offers transparency and resilience, if not complete immunity, to digital interference. Our electorate - and the political actors who serve it - is thoughtful, informed and deeply engaged. They deserve partnership, not paternalism, and the sheer speed and scale of AI-generated content mean that monitoring and labelling alone will never be enough.

The final days of the presidential election illustrated this challenge vividly. A piece of AI-generated misinformation about the electoral process circulated rapidly and gained media attention. It showed how easily such content can be produced and how often we may see similar attempts. My friend and colleague, Tom Rogers, former chief executive of the Australian Electoral Commission, speaks of AI’s three Vs: volume, velocity and veracity. Information now moves faster, in greater quantities and with more subtle distortions than at any time in our history. Voters of all ages need support to navigate this new landscape. We will remain vigilant during the white-hot heat of election campaigns, where speed matters most, but our deeper task is to build long-term democratic resilience.

Europe shares that mission. The European democracy shield's focus on protecting the information space, strengthening democratic institutions and boosting societal resilience aligns closely with our own priorities. For An Coimisiún Toghcháin, that third pillar of societal resilience stands at the heart of our education and public engagement strategy. We aim to reach people not only in formal education but in their communities, their workplaces and in the places where democratic participation can feel most distant.

We are committed to staying at the frontier of learning. Tomorrow, we meet again with European colleagues to share best practice on AI in elections. In the evolving relationship between democracy and artificial intelligence, three principles must guide us, namely, that trust is the foundation, vigilance is the duty and education is our common defence. Cuirim míle buíochas leis an gcoiste.