Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 September 2026
361. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the measures that are in place, or his plans for measures, concerning the use of agentic AI with financial services and products in Ireland. [68222/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI thank the Deputy for raising this important matter.
Artificial Intelligence presents significant opportunities for Ireland’s economy, productivity and competitiveness. At the same time, we need to be clear-eyed about its potential risks.
The EU AI Act provides us a comprehensive regulatory framework to build on our existing foundations and harness AI for our greater good, while ensuing appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure it is developed and deployed safely and ethically. It establishes a horizontal, risk-based framework for AI systems developed or used in the European Union. The obligations on providers and deployers vary according to an AI system’s purpose, use and risk classification.
The Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Act 2026, which commenced in July, gives effect to the EU AI Act in Ireland and puts in place the national institutional and enforcement architecture required to apply the EU AI Act's provisions and provides a comprehensive legal framework for ensuring that the AI sector in Ireland develops in a responsible and ethical manner. The framework includes the recently established AI Office of Ireland, which promotes the safe, responsible and trusted use of artificial intelligence across Ireland. It works alongside the relevant sectoral competent authorities responsible for monitoring and enforcement under Ireland’s distributed regulatory model.
Fifteen public bodies are designated as competent authorities across relevant sectors and product areas, including financial services.
The Central Bank of Ireland is the designated market surveillance authority for the regulated financial services sector in Ireland. In particular, it is responsible for the supervision and enforcement of prohibited AI practices specified in Article 5(1)(a), (b) and (c) of the EU AI Act. It also oversees the high-risk AI systems identified in Annex III, points 5(b) and 5(c), where those systems are placed in service or used by regulated financial service providers in direct connection with regulated financial services.
The term AI agent is not legally defined under European law and is used colloquially for different kinds of artefacts. As such, while AI agents are not a separate category of AI under the AI Act, the definitions of an AI system in Article 3(1) AI Act and of a GPAI model in Article 3(63) AI Act are sufficient to cover AI agents. This means that the rules applicable to AI systems and GPAI models under the AI Act also apply to AI agents.
The European Commission’s AI Office have the power to monitor and supervise the compliance of all AI systems based on general-purpose AI (GPAI) models, where the model and the system are developed by the same provider, as well as all AI systems embedded in or constituting very large online platforms or search engines, even if the system and GPAI model provider are different. National Market Surveillance Authorities may request the Commission to exercise those powers where it is necessary and proportionate to assist with the fulfilment of their tasks, nationally, under the AI Act.
Under the AI Act, providers of General Purpose AI (GPAI) models, which are the foundation for agentic AI, are required to continuously assess and mitigate systemic risks, including by taking appropriate measures along the entire model’s lifecycle. The GPAI models must also comply with the transparency obligations and make it clear to users that they are interacting with an AI system.
The European Commission has published Guidelines and a Code of Practice to help providers understand and meet their obligations.
I am aware that the EU AI Office has formally sent requests for information to a number of providers of general-purpose AI models based in different regions of the world. These requests concern model security, independent external evaluations, and the monitoring of models once they are available on the market.
I want to assure the Deputy that the Government remains committed to the safe, human-centric and trustworthy development and use of AI. Taken together, the EU AI Act, the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Act 2026, the newly established AI Office of Ireland and the designated sectoral regulators provide a comprehensive and proportionate regulatory framework for the safe and ethical development of AI in Ireland.
