Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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686. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he is aware of reports of copyright infringements highlighted by a publication (details supplied); the steps his Department is taking to protect Irish authors and their copyrighted material from tech companies using pirated material to train their AI; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18519/25]

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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692. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he aware of the recent roll-out of the AI feature on all apps on a platform (details supplied) without permission of the users; his views on the fact that these features cannot be removed; if he intends to take action regarding this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18805/25]

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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695. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he or his Department have been made aware of books written by Irish authors and protected by copyright being used to train generative AI models by companies operating in Ireland without any agreement or compensation to copyright owners; whether he or his Department will be taking any steps to address this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18884/25]

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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696. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he or his Department have been made aware of books written by Irish authors and protected by copyright being used to train generative AI models by companies operating in Ireland without any agreement or compensation to copyright owners; whether he or his Department will be taking any steps to address this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18885/25]

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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697. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment how his Department plans to address the use of copyrighted material being used to train generative AI models by companies operating in Ireland without any agreement or compensation to copyright owners; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18886/25]

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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698. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment whether he or his department have engaged with social media companies who train generative AI models operating in Ireland on the use of copyrighted material being used to train generative AI models without any agreement or compensation to copyright owners; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18887/25]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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721. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps he is taking to address the pirating of Irish authors’ copyrighted material by social media companies (details supplied) to train their AI programmes; the implications of this practice if unchecked for many other artforms; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19954/25]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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722. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps he is taking to address the pirating of Irish authors’ copyrighted material by social media companies (details supplied) to train their AI programmes; the implications of this practice if unchecked for many other artforms; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19955/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 686, 692, 695, 696, 697, 698, 721 and 722 together.

I fully recognise concerns raised by Irish authors and their representative bodies regarding the use of work by a tech company in training generative AI models without author consent.

I understand that a legal challenge by authors against a company is ongoing in the US District Court of Northern California in relation to its use of LibGen, a pirated database of copyrighted material, to train its large language model. This database may include works by Irish authors. The matter is before the courts so the outcome of this legal challenge will not be known for some time.

In Ireland, the legal landscape concerning the use of copyrighted works for AI training involves several considerations. The Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 (as amended) provides robust protection for copyrighted works. As an EU Member State, Ireland has implemented the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, transposed by S.I. No. 567/2021, which introduced a Text and Data Mining (TDM) exception that allows commercial companies to use copyrighted material under certain conditions unless rightsholders explicitly opt out. This exception requires works to be lawfully accessible.