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Ireland Signs AI Act into Law
The Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Act 2026 is now law in Ireland, and most of its provisions went into force on July 31, 2026. The act sets Ireland’s framework for implementation of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (Regulation [EU] 2024/1689), which went into force on August 1, 2024.
EU AI Act levels of risk
The EU AI Act uses four levels of risk to assess and regulate AI systems:
Unacceptable risk: Practices that include manipulative and exploitative techniques, biometric categorization for sensitive traits, social scoring by public authorities, untargeted facial image scraping, and emotion recognition in the workplace and educational institutions are banned by the EU AI Act.
High risk: Strict requirements apply to systems used in critical infrastructure, education, employment, essential services, law enforcement, migration, and justice. The requirements include risk management, data governance, technical documentation, human oversight, and cybersecurity.
Limited risk: Transparency requirements apply to AI systems like chatbots and generative AI, which means users must be notified that they are interacting with an AI system or platform.
Minimal risk: AI-enabled video games, spam filters, and many other AI applications are considered to pose minimal risk, so no legal obligations apply to these kinds of applications.
Enforcement of the EU AI Act
Ireland’s AI Act provides a technical and institutional framework for supervision, investigation, market monitoring, and enforcement. It does not create an additional compliance burden for entities that fall within the scope of the EU AI Act.
Ireland’s legislation created the AI Office of Ireland — an independent statutory body that serves as the central coordinating authority and single point of contact for citizens, the European Commission, and member states. The AI Office coordinates a network of national authorities that are responsible for enforcing the EU AI Act in Ireland.
Employers take note
Because employers are classified as deployers of AI systems under the act, they must ensure they understand and comply with the relevant obligations of the EU AI Act. In particular, employers should note the requirements related to risk management, transparency, and human oversight.
Sources: Littler, EU Reporter, KPMG
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