Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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441. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform given the skills gap in AI identified by the Future Skills report last year, if the monitoring and support of public sector projects which utilise AI will be part of the responsibility of the Govtech delivery Board. [16428/23]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I am pleased to advise the Deputy that, following discussions between my officials and those of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Enterprise Digital Advisory Forum will act in an advisory capacity in relation GovTech development in addition to its existing work.  The Forum, which was established by the previous Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation and created to support the government in driving the digitalisation of enterprise across Ireland.

The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs published a report on AI Skills in June 2022. The report made ten specific recommendations and the Labour Market and Skills Unit in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has established an Implementation Group to oversee their implementation.  The Group consists of representatives from the organisations named in the report as responsible for delivering the recommendations, and has met once to date, in January 2023.  Significant progress has been made already on many of the recommendations.  The Group will meet again to review progress before the end of the year. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has also convened a Working Group on Trustworthy AI Principles and Guidelines.  This group brings together experts in the area of AI, with representatives of Government Departments and state bodies, with a view to agreeing an accessible set of principles for the deployment of trustworthy and ethical AI in the public sector.  The group is considering the ways in which it can best help decision makers in the Public Service to make informed decisions on the use and deployment of AI.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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442. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he is aware that Govtech boards in some states, for example Singapore, have a role in developing 'whole of government' technologies, and employ substantial technical resources to this end; and if this is perceived as part of the terms of reference of the Irish Govtech Delivery Board. [16430/23]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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While the main priorities for GovTech were set out in the 2019 Cruinniú GovTech Report, it is the intention that the Enterprise Digital Advisory Forum, established on foot of the national AI strategy by the previous Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, will act in an advisory capacity in relation to GovTech in addition to its existing work.  This will include the continuing implementation of enterprise elements of the National Digital Strategy Harnessing Digital - The Digital Ireland Framework and  the GovTech elements of Connecting Government 2030: A Digital and ICT Strategy for Ireland’s Public Service, both of which were published in 2022.