The Government is completely unprepared for the threats AI presents for employment in Ireland and must immediately develop a roadmap to face its challenges head-on, according to Social Democrats TD Sinéad Gibney.
Deputy Gibney, who sits on the Oireachtas AI Committee, said:
“We are facing a fundamental societal challenge from the labour displacement that Artificial Intelligence will cause. Today’s report by the ESRI has set in stone what we’ve already known for some time now.
“When those of us on the Oireachtas AI Committee have raised concerns about AI, we’ve been given flimsy answers by Government officials, always pointing to the business potential of AI, never addressing the concrete threat it presents for our workforce.
“It seems to me that no preparatory work has been conducted by Government to prepare us for this seachange in how we work, running the risk of mass unemployment across multiple sectors. This is irresponsible and illustrates a fundamental lack of understanding about how organisations and enterprises are planning for the future.
“AI can be an effective tool to boost productivity and complete menial tasks that humans are not required to do, but these benefits will only be reaped by corporations if we’re not careful – without a plan, the benefits of AI will only make the richest richer, leaving low- and middle-income earners out of work.
“When we have faced industrial revolutions old and new, those in control of the means of production have always used technological advancements to bolster their profit margins, not to improve the quality of life of their staff and the country they operate in.
“With the advent of AI, it is naive to believe that companies will now behave otherwise – if we are not prepared for it, AI will be used to cut wage bills and amass a grotesque level of wealth for the most elite in our society.
“The Government must immediately begin planning for this eventuality: the National Training Fund, which is in surplus by €1.8b, must be deployed to upskill and retrain any workers who are likely to be affected by AI-related job losses.
“Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are sleepwalking into what could be a crisis which defines a generation of workers – they must get ahead of it to ensure that AI is used to progress society, not destroy our employment rates, tax base and way of life.”
April 9th, 2026