Dr Kris Shrishak

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) said it approached the nine organisations ahead of them receiving new enforcement powers in August 2026.

The public authorities are An Coimisiún Toghcháin, Coimisiún na Meán, the Data Protection Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Financial Services & Pensions Ombudsman, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, the Ombudsman, the Ombudsman for Children and the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces.

All but two of the authorities — An Coimisiún Toghcháin and the Data Protection Commission — responded to ICCL and said they had not been allocated any additional funding following their designation at the end of October 2024.

Some of them said they had been told that the government does not intend to provide them with any additional resources.

Dr Kris Shrishak, senior fellow with ICCL Enforce, said: “Without additional resources, fundamental rights bodies like the Ombudsman for Children and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission could find themselves unable to protect people from AI-related harms.

“The government must ensure that these fundamental rights bodies have sufficient resources to fulfil their mandates.”

He warned that the new powers and responsibilities “require deep technical knowledge of AI and an understanding of the AI Act”

“It is ICCL’s understanding that none of the fundamental rights bodies, except the DPC, currently have this expertise,” Dr Shrishak said.

“Training and upskilling existing staff may be challenging due to the bodies’ existing workloads in other areas of their mandate.

“We are calling on the government to take the implementation of the AI Act and regulation of AI seriously. These bodies must have the resources they need to ensure they can use their powers from day one.”