The general scheme of the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Bill 2026 was published by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment yesterday.

The legislation is necessary for the full implementation in Ireland of EU Regulation 2024/1689, commonly referred to as the EU Artificial Intelligence Act.

The Irish government intends to adopt a distributed model of competent authorities for the AI Act, leveraging established sectoral regulatory authorities, with a designated central authority to provide coordination and a number of centralised functions.

The general scheme proposes to establish a new statutory independent body — Oifig Intleachta Shaorga na hÉireann, or the AI Office of Ireland — under the remit of the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment.

The new body will act as the single point of contact and central coordinating authority for the implementation and enforcement of the EU AI Act in the State.

The general scheme also provides for the empowerment of competent authorities, and rules on penalties for infringement of the Act.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has welcomed the publication of the general scheme, which it says has incorporated most of the recommendations it submitted to a government consultation in July 2024.

“We will further analyse the general scheme to assess the robustness of the draft bill and the degree to which it will effectively protect the rights of people in Ireland”, the NGO said in a statement.