Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform statement on the use of AI in the Public Sector

The Minister states:

My department recently published the ‘Guidelines for the Responsible use of Artificial Intelligence in the Public Service’. These guidelines compliment and inform strategies regarding the adoption of innovative technology and ways of working already underway in the public service, and seek to set a high standard for public service transformation and innovation, while prioritising public trust and people’s rights.

The Guidelines have been developed to actively empower public servants to use AI in the delivery of services. By firmly placing the human in the process, these guidelines aim to enhance public trust in how Government uses AI.

The Guidelines include a number of use cases of early adopters of AI in the Irish public service across a number of areas, including: internal operations, service delivery, internal and external oversight, and policy-making. The Public Sector is currently exploring and piloting application in areas including health, agriculture, transport, and customer service. These projects each have a strong focus on transparency, accountability, data protection and human oversight. The examples included demonstrate improved efficiency, responsiveness, and accuracy.

A range of resources designed to support the adoption of AI have been developed, including clear information on Government’s Principles for Responsible AI, a Decision Framework for evaluating the potential use of AI, a Responsible AI Canvas Tool to be used at planning stage, and an AI Lifecycle Guidance tool.

The EU AI Act (2024) came into force this year with a suite of measures designed to ensure acceptable and transparent use of AI in the private sphere and in public administration, for the benefit of the public, the economy and society.

My colleague, Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation Niamh Smyth and the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment officials with responsibility for the EU AI Act in Ireland are engaging regularly with Officials in this Department and across Government in the implementation of this important and landmark regulation. For Public Services this is further reflected in the National AI Strategy (2024) Strand 4, and with a focus on increasing capacity and adoption of AI for public service delivery and for evidence-informed policy development.