What progress has been made by the Department on the creation of an operational AI regulatory sandbox by 2 August 2026, in line with the EU AI Act?

Sentiment score: 0.60

I thank the Minister of State for the reply. He indicated the establishment of the AI office will be crucial in respect of the regulatory sandbox. I look forward to primary legislation being introduced on this and to it coming before the Committee on Artificial Intelligence, of which I am Vice Chair. One of the things that struck me when we were in Estonia recently at a digital summit was just how far ahead some other EU countries are in the adaptation of AI. What the Department is doing in respect of ensuring small businesses in the enterprise sector can stay competitive by harnessing the benefits of AI is a model that other countries could emulate. Beyond the Department of enterprise, we could go a lot further. I am heartened to hear there is a lot of cross collaboration taking place in respect of the establishment of the AI office. Does the Minister of State agree that the forthcoming EU Presidency could create a great opportunity for Ireland, given that we have lot of the large language model, LLM, companies based here, to have an AI summit to promote the benefits of AI and what it could bring to this country?

Sentiment score: 0.41

In the enterprise sector, work is under way and has been done historically in Ireland when it comes to attracting investment and technology companies here. Now we see in Ireland the work Enterprise Ireland has done in supporting the hyper scaling of technology companies and start-ups. We saw some measures in the budget and, hopefully, there are more to come in future to support the emergence of an indigenous technology industry here. Some of the steps we have taken could be adapted in other Departments. Perhaps we could see the leading role this Department is taking in other spheres, such as health and education. We can look at what other EU countries are doing. The hosting of the EU Presidency by Ireland presents a unique opportunity. A number of years ago when Estonia held the Presidency it created a digital summit. We could demonstrate that we are the lead in class when it comes to the regulation of AI and we could harness some of the benefits that are coming.

Sentiment score: 0.30