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Passport Service, Revenue to discuss use of AI at Oireachtas committee

In May 2025, the Government published guidelines for the responsible use of AI in the public service
In May 2025, the Government published guidelines for the responsible use of AI in the public service

Officials from the Passport Service, Revenue Commissioners and Citizens Information Board will address the Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence on their agencies' use of AI.

The focus of the hearing will be on successful AI programmes in the public sector.

Citizens Information will discuss the role out of the AskCI bot; Revenue has deployed AI models to assist in more accurately directing taxpayer queries to the appropriate Revenue caseworker, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is piloting the 'Ask Finn' chatbot, which is an internal bot used by officials to assist with processing passports.

"While public sector workers offer a vast cohort of knowledge, expertise and skills in their area, AI has the potential to transform the public sector by providing the most efficient service," said Committee Cathaoirleach Malcolm Byrne.

"While concerns are evident and will be discussed, particularly in the case of face-to-face support for the customer, the Committee looks forward to engaging with the departments and agencies who are using AI to improve their service," Mr Byrne said.

In May 2025, the Government published guidelines for the responsible use of AI in the public service.

The framework advises against the use of free generative AI (GenAI) models like ChatGPT and DeepSeek.

The plan also outlines the importance of having safeguards and human oversight in place, as well as the need for AI systems to be dependable and secure.