The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has called for an independent national Artificial Intelligence office to enforce the EU AI Act.
Under current plans, the office will sit within the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, but the ICCL told the Oireachtas Committee on AI that the AI Office should be an independent body with a dedicated budget, a commissioner and an adequate number of technical experts employed to support itself, similar to the Data Protection Commission.
ICCL Enforce Senior Fellow Dr Kris Shrishak said the office will be Ireland's single point of contact under the act.
He said the State has informed the European Commission that this office will be in the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment.
Dr Shrishak called on the committee to push for the office to be independent with a dedicated budget, a commissioner and an adequate number of technical experts employed to support itself, similar to the Data Protection Commission.
The Chief Commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission said the office will require "significant levels of operational and regulatory independence" from Government and bodies who are "developing artificial intelligence technology".
Liam Herrick said they have no insight into Government plans for the office, "whether it will be an agency of a Government department" or "one that set up at arm's length".
Meanwhile, Dr Shrishak said the State has to take responsibility for how it uses AI or algorithmic systems
He raised that the Department of Justice is using a chatbot called Tara, alongside a disclaimer that this bot cannot guarantee accuracy or responsibility.
He said the department also ran a chatbot to answer asylum seekers, which the Dublin Inquirer previously reported.
He said through a Freedom of Information Act (FOI), they have learned the department did not run a tender a process, neither did it run any risk assessments, or bias tests for these chatbots.
Chatbots are only one example of AI, said Dr Shrishak.
"We don’t what kinds of these are being used in public bodies," he said.
He called on the Department of Public Expenditure to provide clear guidelines on the use procurement of AI services and establish a publicly accessible central register for all algorithm systems used by public bodies.
"This is essential for the transparency of AI systems used by Government," he said.
The IHREC said 73% of people in Ireland are concerned about the societal impacts of AI, according to its 2025 poll with Ipsos.
Mr Herrick said this shows there is a "strong public appetite for effective regulation".
He said the poll of 1200 adults also found that only 22% of the public believe the Government is effectively regulating technology companies.
Meanwhile, 68% expressed concern about the use of AI by the Government and public services.
He said the level of the public’s trust in state regulation is still "very low".
Mr Herrick said there is a strong political messaging against AI regulation in Europe and in the US, adding that countries are instead focusing on competitiveness.
"That was the message that was used by social media platforms for the last 10 or 15 years," he said. "That we had to have light regulation or even self-regulation for competiveness and jobs."
He said concerns have already arisen around AI including the "devastating impacts on children and young people".
Mr Herrick said AI technology poses specific risks to children ranging from "radicalisation to social withdrawal".
He said AI is also being used to spread misinformation and hate "more effectively than before", and that it was worth "listening to the public and their desire for protection".
