National AI Leadership Forum unites sectors to secure Ireland’s AI future

Posted on: 25 September 2025

The Forum is organised by the Research Ireland ADAPT Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology, in partnership with the Insight Centre for Data Analytics and William Fry. It builds on the momentum from ADAPT’s cross-sector Policy Roundtables earlier this year and on recent recommendations from the AI Advisory Council.

More than 100 invited stakeholders representing 70 organisations will participate in the session, having submitted key priority questions and proposed actions in advance. These inputs, together with the discussion on the day, will inform a forthcoming AI Leadership Charter and Action Plan to help guide national policy, research, and investment decisions in the months ahead.

From left to right are Prof. John Kelleher, Director of the ADAPT Centre at Trinity College Dublin; Patricia Scanlon, founder of SoapBox Labs; Prof. Noel O'Connor, CEO, Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics; Dr Barry Scannell, Partner in William Fry’s Technology Department and member of the Government’s AI Advisory Council.

This Forum builds on work ADAPT has been doing throughout 2025 to map Ireland’s AI ecosystem and bring the AI community together. It follows two high-level roundtables in March and May, where senior figures from Government, academia, civil society and industry came together to talk about Ireland’s place in a fast-changing AI world.

What came through was an appetite and a need for a space where people from across the ecosystem could share lessons, tackle common challenges, and start pulling in the same direction. This Forum evolved from those initial sessions and aims to meet the needs of stakeholders and inform how Ireland can lead in the AI age. 

It also comes at a key moment, just days after the Government announced plans for a new National AI Office to coordinate how the EU AI Act is implemented in Ireland.

The focus of the Forum spans five national priorities, identified by participants as essential to Ireland’s competitiveness and AI future. These include: 

• Ireland’s global AI leadership: Ireland will assume the Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2026, providing a platform to position the country as a trusted, competitive hub that combines world-class research, ethical oversight and fast, transparent regulatory pathways.
• Building Ireland’s AI workforce: Building Ireland’s human capacity for AI through a national framework for AI skills, literacy, and education that equips citizens and workers with the knowledge and skills to safely use AI.
• Government services and public trust: Showing AI delivering real public value through flagship public service pilots that embed citizen participation, transparency and accountability from the outset.
• Managing AI risks and social impact: Building public trust in AI through independent, transparent regulatory testbeds anchored in Ireland’s national AI research ecosystem and feeding into a new national AI Observatory to monitor impacts and public attitudes.
• Balancing governance and innovation: Creating the conditions for responsible innovation by developing agile, transparent regulatory learning spaces with shared oversight, national infrastructure, and open access for SMEs, researchers, and public bodies to complement the future AI Office’s sandbox function.

 Professor John Kelleher, Director of the ADAPT Centre at Trinity College Dublin, said: “ADAPT is convening Ireland’s leaders to agree the practical steps that can make Ireland a European exemplar. By bringing Government, regulators, industry, academia and civil society into one room, and grounding the discussion in evidence, we can translate our shared ambitions into clear actions. We will publish an AI Leadership Charter and Action Plan from this work and submit it to support the National Digital Strategy refresh. 

“AI and data science development is moving at pace.This technology offers enormous potential to enhance people’s health and quality of life, to support climate action, to create jobs and to boost human creativity. However, it is a mistake to think this will happen without a robust, value-based roadmap developed with multiple stakeholders working together. This forum is a great opportunity to start creating that roadmap in a country that has both world-class tech talent and a strong, stable democracy with a population that values sustainability, equality of opportunity and innovation,” added Professor Noel O'Connor, CEO, Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics.

“Ireland has a historic opportunity to lead the world in AI by ensuring it is developed in ways that are aligned with our values. With our globally respected regulators, our conveyor belt of highly skilled workers, and hosting the EU headquarters of the world's top tech companies, we already have many of the building blocks to be that world leader. Recent developments such as the announcement of a proposed National AI Office, along with the breadth of voices at this Forum, are a sign that Ireland intends to act with ambition,” said Dr Barry Scannell, a Partner in William Fry’s Technology Department and member of the Government’s AI Advisory Council.   

Last week, the Government announced a new National AI Office to coordinate implementation of the EU AI Act, and work on updating the National Digital Strategy is under way. These initiatives reflect Ireland’s ambition to be a global hub for AI expertise, innovation, and regulation. 

The Forum is part of ADAPT’s wider programme of work on AI governance, safety, and responsible deployment. A summary of submissions and the AI Leadership Charter and Action Plan will be published by ADAPT in late October. 

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