The Irish Government recently published their Summer 2026 Legislation Programme. While the programme covers a range of legislative areas, we have set out below the status of key Bills of relevance to the technology sector.
Legislation for priority publication in Summer 2026
- Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Bill and Non-Personal Data Bill: This Bill will give full effect to the EU Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689). It will establish the national AI office to act as the central coordinating authority, ensuring the consistent implementation and enforcement of the EU AI Act across all sectors. The General Scheme of Bill was published on 4 February 2026 (previously discussed here). The Bill will also give effect to the EU Data Act (Regulation (EU) 2023/2854). In that respect, it will designate ComReg and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (“CCPC”) as the national competent authorities, and provide for penalties for non-compliance. The General Scheme of the Data Bill was published on 4 February 2026 (press release here). The Heads of Bill were approved in December 2025 and January 2026.
- National Cyber Security Bill: This Bill will transpose the Network and Information Security Directive (EU) 2022/2555 (“NIS 2”) into Irish law, appointing the National Cyber Security Centre (“NCSC”) as the competent authority and as Ireland’s Computer Security Incident Response Team (“CSIRT”). The Bill will provide NCSC with a range of enforcement powers, and implement the reporting and risk requirements of NIS 2 on the management boards of in-scope entities. Our FAQs on NIS 2, including its national implementation, are available here. Work on this Bill is ongoing.
- Criminal Justice (Protection, Preservation, of and Access to Data on Information Systems) Bill: This Bill will give effect to a number of provisions of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime and the EU e-Evidence Regulation (EU) 2021/784. The Heads of this Bill were approved in February 2024.
Other Bills undergoing preparatory work
- Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill: This Bill seeks to create a statutory right of exit from electronic communications service contracts, without penalty, where an in-contract price increase clause is used to increase the price of the service for the customer (further discussed here). The Heads of this Bill are currently being prepared.
- Consumer Protection, Competition and Enforcement Bill: This Bill will align national law with EU standards on consumer rights and product liability. It will also update consumer protection provisions where a trader has engaged in prohibited practices resulting in an impediment for a consumer to make an informed decision. It will protect the integrity of public procurement by providing bid-rigging detection powers; provide for administrative financial sanctions for breaches of consumer law; and enhance the enforcement powers of the CCPC. The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment recently held a public consultation to shape the proposed legislation. The Heads of this Bill are in preparation.
- Communications (Interception and Lawful Access) Bill: This Bill seeks to update and replace the Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act 1993 to reflect advances in technology. The Bill further seeks to grant additional powers to Law Enforcement Authorities, including a new legal basis for the use of covert surveillance software, and the use of electronic scanning equipment to locate and record identifier data from mobile devices (discussed further here). The Heads of this Bill are currently being prepared.
- Transposition of eIDAS Directive Omnibus Bill: This Bill seeks to make changes to national legislation to provide for the European Digital Identity (“EUDI”) Wallet as required under the eIDAS Regulation 2.0 (Regulation (EU) 2024/1183). The EUDI Wallet must be available to EU citizens to use on a voluntary basis for online and offline public services across the EU by December 2026, and by certain private service providers by December 2027 (further discussed here). The Heads of this Bill are currently being prepared.
As this legislation continues to progress, we will provide further updates.
Contact us
Matheson’s Technology and Innovation Group are available to guide you through compliance with the broad suite of EU and Irish digital and technology legislation. For more information, please contact any member of our Technology and Innovation Group or your usual Matheson contact.