Enforcement per member state
AI Act enforcement in Ireland
Last verification round: 2026-08-10
- Who supervises · designated
- Distributed model with 15 sectoral competent authorities (incl. Central Bank of Ireland, Coimisiun na Mean, Data Protection Commission, Workplace Relations Commission) as market surveillance authorities; AI Office of Ireland (Oifig IS na hEireann) as central coordinating authority, established on 30 July 2026
- Single point of contact
- AI Office of Ireland (Oifig IS na hEireann), operationeel per 2 augustus 2026; daarvoor interim contactpunt bij het Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment
- Implementing law
- in force
The situation in this country
Ireland leads this cluster. Eight competent authorities received legal effect on 29 July 2025 via S.I. No. 366/2025, and in September 2025 the government confirmed a total of 15 authorities and an interim contact point within the department. The Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Act 2026, published as a bill on 17 June 2026, was signed into law by President Connolly on 21 July 2026. The Act establishes the AI Office of Ireland (Oifig IS na hEireann) as an independent central coordinating authority and single point of contact; the office was established on 30 July 2026 with Paul Byrne as its first CEO and has been operational since early August 2026. Market surveillance itself remains with the sectoral authorities.
What has happened
2026-07-30 | Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment
AI Office of Ireland established, Paul Byrne appointed first CEO
Under the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Act 2026, signed on 21 July 2026, Oifig IS na hEireann (AI Office of Ireland) was established as an independent statutory body. Paul Byrne was appointed as its first CEO. The office acts as the central coordinating authority for AI Act implementation and as the single point of contact for the European Commission, national sectoral regulators and the public, operational by 2 August 2026.
2026-06-17 | Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment
Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Bill 2026 published
The government published the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Bill 2026, following the General Scheme of 4 February 2026. The bill establishes Oifig IS na hEireann (AI Office of Ireland) as an independent central coordinating authority and single point of contact, leaves market surveillance with the sectoral competent authorities, gives those authorities enforcement powers and provides for national penalties. The bill was subsequently passed by the Oireachtas and signed into law by President Connolly on 21 July 2026.
2025-09-16 | Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment
Ireland confirms 15 competent authorities and interim contact point
The government confirmed the designation of 15 national competent authorities in total, including the Central Bank of Ireland for finance, Coimisiun na Mean for media and the Data Protection Commission. An interim single point of contact was appointed within the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, with the intention to establish a national AI Office as central coordinator by 2 August 2026.
2025-07-29 | Regering van Ierland / DETE
S.I. No. 366/2025 gives legal effect to first eight authorities
Statutory instrument S.I. No. 366/2025 (European Union (Artificial Intelligence) (Designation) Regulations 2025) gave legal effect to the government decision of March 2025 to designate eight existing regulators as competent authorities under the AI Act, following a distributed sectoral model, and appointed the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment as a competent authority and single point of contact.
2025-04-11 | Data Protection Commission
GDPR case: DPC opens inquiry into X over Grok training
Explicitly a GDPR case, not AI Act enforcement. The Data Protection Commission opened an inquiry into X Internet Unlimited Company over the processing of publicly accessible posts of EU users for training the Grok large language models, focusing on lawfulness and transparency. Illustrative of Irish supervision of generative AI.