The Irish Government has today published the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Bill 2026 (the “Bill”). The Bill, once enacted, will give effect to the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (the “AI Act”). The Bill follows on from the General Scheme of the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence (the “General Scheme”) which was published by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment in February 2026 (previously discussed here).
The Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Peter Burke, has heralded the publication of the Bill as a “landmark moment for Ireland’s digital regulatory framework”, whilst the Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation, Niamh Smyth lauded the Bill as building “the institutional foundations for a future in which AI works for people ethically, transparently and accountably”. The Bill reflects Ireland’s National Digital and AI Strategy, Digital Ireland — Connecting our People, Securing our Future (previously discussed here).
Contents of the Bill
The Government confirmed in their Press Release that the intention behind the Bill is to be a technical implementing measure and that the Bill should not add to the obligations placed on regulated entities by the AI Act itself. Rather the national legislation is necessary to provide for national supervision and enforcement of the obligations set out in the AI Act.
The AI Act came into force in August 2024, and takes effect on a phased basis, with most of its provisions coming into force on 2 August 2026. However, the rules applicable to high-risk AI systems look set to be delayed, by the AI Digital Omnibus Regulation, until 2 December 2027 (for standalone high-risk AI systems under Article 6(2) and Annex III of the AI Act) and 2 August 2028 (for AI systems embedded as safety components and covered by EU sectoral legislation under Article 6(1) and Annex I of the AI Act) (as discussed here).
The key provisions of the Bill mirror those contained in the General Scheme from earlier this year. The Bill is composed of 139 sections, and divided into 10 separate parts. Once the Bill enters into law, it will establish the AI Office of Ireland as an independent statutory entity, which will act as a central coordinating authority. The Government has already designated a number of surveillance authorities and notifying authorities via Statutory Instrument No. 366/2025 (previously discussed here). These existing sectoral authorities, such as the Data Protection Commission (“DPC”) and the Central Bank of Ireland (“CBI”) will oversee AI regulation within their own domains.
The Bill also provides for a general administrative sanctions regime to be utilised by all market surveillance authorities which are specified in the Bill, as well as a structured and proportionate enforcement toolkit. In addition, the Bill contains specific provisions relating to the CBI and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.
Next steps
Following on from today’s publication of the Bill, we will prepare a deep dive into the various provisions, and consider how they will impact Irish organisations, including providers and deployers of AI systems and models.
The Bill will now need to progress through Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann before coming into effect. We will continue to monitor the progress of the Bill and provide any relevant updates as it progresses.
Contact us
If you have any questions on anything contained in this article or on the AI Act and the Irish transposition of the AI Act in general, please feel free to reach out to a member of the Technology and Innovation Group or your usual Matheson contact.
