Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 7 October 2025
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence and Disability: Discussion
2:00 am
Dr. Aideen Hartney:
I echo and build on what our colleagues in the DFI have said. It is about recognising it in the AI office when it is established but, equally, it is about building disability competence in each of the nine domestic authorities, which is probably at varying levels across them. That is important as they design their own regulatory duties or approaches to this area.
Regarding what my colleague, Dr. Craddock, said about procurement, if the criteria are set and made essential that accessibility is recognised and codesign approaches are taken, that is a way of driving the market and a fundamental business case in terms of how much revenue could be lost if developers did not take an approach and if there was confidence that the regulatory system would punish them for not doing so.