James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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1225. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to identify specific examples where artificial intelligence has been adapted for the operation of his Department and each body under the aegis of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12924/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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My Department complies with the “Interim Guidelines for Use of AI in the Public Service” issued by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform in February 2024 and also with guidance issued to all Government Departments in June 2023 by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in relation to the cyber security aspects.

In line with our modernisation of immigration services, my Department has deployed a Digital Customer Contact Centre to serve and support a number of schemes provided by the Immigration Services Division. An AI assistant and smart chatbot has been deployed as part of this which uses Microsoft Copilot to provide assistance to both applicants and staff. The smart assistant is accessed through an authenticated portal on the Immigration Services website. In implementing this solution my Department has leveraged Generative AI in a low-risk way to offer enhanced digital services including appointment booking and status inquiries to applicants via the portal and to staff via an internal customer service agent query application.

As part of creating an account to access the Digital Customer Contact Centre service, my Department also employs an AI powered service for identity verification. This service verifies identities in real time, ensuring accurate results and authenticity, which in turn enables greater efficiencies, reducing risk and the time taken to perform these checks manually.

My Department plans to continue to assess the opportunities presented by all digital tools, including AI, to improve the delivery, efficiency and accessibility of services to our customers

I am informed of the following by agencies under the aegis of my Department:

• The Courts Service of Ireland use artificial intelligence as part of their cyber security defence operations to both detect and respond to cyber-attacks.
• The Office of the State Pathologist also use a form of voice recognition medical software that facilitates the typing of medical reports.