Dr. Patricia Scanlon:

I thank the members of the committee for the opportunity to share our perspective. I am here as the chair of the AI council, which consists of 15 independent experts advising the Government on harnessing AI, protecting rights and building public trust.

AI is fundamentally transforming how we work, learn, innovate and function as a society across Ireland. Ireland's window to lead this transformation rather than be shaped by it is rapidly closing. The decisions we make in the coming months will be critical.

We face two distinct sets of risks that must be balanced simultaneously and not ranked. First are AI's risks to society, including bias, privacy erosion, job displacement, misinformation, threats to fairness, safety and human dignity, and impacts on the creative sector and intellectual property. These risks are immediate and substantial. Second are the risks of inaction. These include hindering innovation, weakening our competitiveness and losing innovation and talent, becoming rule-takers in global AI governance and missing AI's benefits in healthcare and education.

The reality is we do not have the luxury of choosing one set of risks over the other. Ignoring either would be a mistake. The challenge is quickly developing the capacity to manage both risks.

Members have probably noticed that conversations about AI have often become unnecessarily polarised. These cycle between embracing AI or rejecting it outright. Instead, we need evidence-based thinking about uncertain outcomes preparing for both anticipated scenarios and unexpected possibilities. We cannot afford to stand still. Ireland needs immediate co-ordinated action across Government to succeed in AI. It will not be easy or cheap but it needs immediate commitment to address critical priorities, such as developing sustainable AI infrastructure that works within our environmental constraints, implementing serious regulatory reforms with proper resourcing, establishing an AI observatory to track real-time impacts on jobs and skills, and supporting a national AI literacy that spans education and the workplace.

Half-measures and incremental changes will leave Ireland behind. We need transformational investment and policy change now. This means playing to Ireland's unique strengths. We are not trying, nor should we try, to start building foundation models, such as GPT or Gemini, but that is okay. Competing against the tech giants is not the point. When GDPR came into force, Ireland took a leading role as Europe’s data regulator. It was a challenging task but we navigated it successfully. We gained global respect and valuable experience. We must draw on that experience again as we respond to AI. However, let me be direct. Ireland’s past successes in technology do not guarantee our future success in AI. We have strong foundations, including an educated workforce, robust research, energetic start-ups, multinational companies and a reputation for balancing innovation with rights, but other countries are also racing to become AI hubs. We need targeted action to stay competitive. Ireland can become Europe's preferred AI base, but only if we fundamentally change our approach to regulation and implementation. Tweaking around the edges will not work. We need new regulatory capacity that is well resourced and works quickly across sectors. Good regulation helps companies act quickly and responsibly, protecting people and supporting innovation. Regulation alone is not enough. Investment must match the pace of AI.

All of this is not just about attracting business. The Government must ensure AI delivers real benefits for society, protecting creative industries and intellectual property. We cannot build systems that drive growth but ultimately deepen inequality, erode privacy or undermine dignity. Privacy, fairness, transparency and accountability serve the common good. The Government needs to lead by example, integrating AI into public services effectively, responsibly, transparently and accountably. This will build public confidence and show Ireland can harness AI safely and ethically. Leadership demands governance frameworks aligned with our European partners. AI does not respect institutional boundaries, so fragmented responses to AI regulation and implementation will not work.

I will highlight a few key issues that illustrate the scale of action required. This is not an exhaustive list. It is to illustrate a couple of our biggest and most immediate priorities. The first is infrastructure. Ireland's AI future depends on transforming how we approach digital infrastructure. Our current grid constraints have halted data centre expansion but simply building more of the same is not the answer. We need a fundamental shift to energy-efficient AI infrastructure that prioritises citizens' needs and operates within sustainability constraints. This means mass investment in renewable energy capacity, smart grid technology and infrastructure that serves Ireland's people first. This transformation will not happen overnight. It requires immediate co-ordinated investment across Government and industry.

The second issue is that of real-time understanding of what is happening. AI is performing tasks previously done by humans. This is already happening and could lead to job losses. Even moderate job losses across multiple sectors could significantly increase unemployment.

We cannot predict the pace or scale of this or whether lost jobs will be replaced. We cannot be reactive. Ireland needs an AI observatory. This would be a national system for tracking real-time impacts on jobs and skills as they happen. Without something like this, we are navigating tomorrow’s changes with yesterday’s map.

The third issue is AI literacy, which has become essential to help people benefit rather than be left behind. We need a co-ordinated national effort across education, from primary school to the workplace. Teachers and workers must understand the power and the limits of AI. Access must be equitable. Otherwise, AI will simply widen inequalities.

I am often asked whether Ireland is leading in AI. The point is we are at a critical juncture right now. We have a lot of real strengths but also real constraints. The choices we make now determine whether we shape this future or are shaped by it. We cannot wait for perfect clarity before we take action. We need to move decisively and urgently hold firm to our rights-based principles. Hesitation and half-measures will leave us behind and exposed to global AI developments, without securing benefits for Ireland.

The AI advisory council will continue to offer independent evidence-based advice guided by the public interest. The decisions Ireland makes in the coming months, informed by this advice, will define our future. I am joined today by several members of the AI council: Professor Deirdre Ahern from Trinity’s law school specialising in AI regulation; Alan Smeaton, emeritus professor of computing at DCU and a founding co-director of the Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics; Sean Blanchfield, founder and CEO of Jentic, an AI start-up with a strong track record in building and scaling tech companies; and Bronagh Riordan of EY, chair of the industry steering board for CeADAR, which is Ireland’s national centre for AI and the European digital innovation hub for AI. I thank the committee. We look forward to members' questions.