Introduction: Vision and Ambition

This is a plain text version of the Introduction of the "Digital Ireland – Connecting our People, Securing our Future" report. Read the full report.

Ireland’s vision is to strengthen our position as a digital leader and as a global hub for AI innovation and adoption; harnessing digital and AI opportunities for continued economic growth; and empowering our people to thrive in a digital world, while ensuring that digital developments improve quality of life for all.

The Government recognises the unprecedented pace and scale of recent technological developments, bringing significant opportunities, but also challenges and risks, right across the economy and society.

Transformational change is taking place against a backdrop of heightened geopolitical uncertainty, regional rebalancing and wider competitiveness challenges.

Ireland has a strong record as a digital leader, with a high-performing talent base and a vibrant and established innovation ecosystem. This is enriched by the long-standing presence of many of the leading tech companies, and eight of the leading providers of foundation AI models, who have chosen Ireland as their European headquarters.

Ireland stands at a pivotal moment in its digital transformation, with the Future Forty¹ report, which sets out a long-term fiscal and economic assessment of Ireland’s needs to 2065, signalling the importance of digitalisation as a key determinant of economic growth and productivity. Under a Central Scenario where digital investment continues on-trend over the coming decades, Future Forty shows that related productivity growth would result in an average GNI* growth rate of 1.6% between 2025 and 2065.

This Strategy sets out our strategic vision to 2030 to strengthen our position as a digital leader and puts in place the building blocks to harness digital and AI opportunities for competitiveness and continued economic growth; to enhance our digital public services; and to enable our people to thrive in a digital society.

We will build on the significant progress already achieved under Harnessing Digital – The Digital Ireland Framework², AI – Here for Good³, and Digital for Good – Ireland’s Digital Inclusion Roadmap, as well as in delivering on the EU Digital Decade Targets⁴. We will leverage our unique and well-established status as a European technology and innovation hub to ensure we maximise the benefits from technological advancement, including through deepening our partnerships with industry to enhance delivery across all pillars of this Strategy.

The Government is committed to a pro-competitiveness, pro-investment and pro-innovation agenda. We are focused on addressing infrastructure deficits and associated competitiveness issues.

Accelerating housing and infrastructure delivery is a priority for the Government, including through implementation of the updated National Development Plan, Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity, and Accelerating Infrastructure Action Plan, which includes a commitment to utilise AI and Digital tools to support infrastructure rollout and assist in all stages of infrastructure delivery.

In accelerating our digital and AI ambitions, it is important to acknowledge the significant energy and infrastructure challenges Ireland faces. To address these challenges, and to maximise future opportunities associated with the twin digital and green transitions, the Government will pursue a strategic medium-term approach for large energy users, including data centres, as set out in the Large Energy User Action Plan. This will provide certainty for industries seeking to commit investments in the period beyond 2030 which are aligned with both the continued green energy transition, and growing Ireland’s knowledge-based economy.

We welcome that our domestic focus on competitiveness is reinforced by EU-level strategic priorities, driven by the Draghi and Letta reports and the EU’s Competitiveness Compass. A strong focus on competitiveness is central to the proposal for the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework, including the significant European Competitiveness Fund, with digital leadership as a key strategic focus.

We will continue to work closely with the European Commission and the European Parliament, as a priority of Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2026, to progress an ambitious and dynamic approach to digital simplification at EU level, leveraging the Country-of-Origin principle to maximise legal certainty for companies and support the effective functioning of the EU Single Market. This will support the EU’s strategic positioning as the location of choice for trustworthy digital innovation, while also protecting data privacy and fundamental rights of citizens.

It is essential that the EU continues to be a strong voice in the debate on global standards and governance of early-stage technologies. Continued engagement and cooperation on digital diplomacy through relevant multilateral fora is critical and we will continue to advocate strongly for the protection of human rights and a humancentric, multistakeholder approach to global digital governance.

With many of the global tech companies headquartered in Ireland, we are acutely aware of the inter-dependencies in digital technology and the critical importance of international collaboration.⁵ ⁶ Ireland supports efforts to increase resilience and decrease dependencies in critical digital value chains. While we should foster homegrown solutions from innovative EU-based companies, we must pursue this in an open manner, maintaining access to critical markets, ensuring interoperability, and protecting international collaboration with likeminded global partners.

As we approach 2030, we will ensure that all of society and our economy can safely and confidently enjoy the benefits of a digital and AI world. The Government is committed to enhancing online safety, in particular for children and young people, as a whole-system priority. Ireland is working closely with our European partners, industry, and other stakeholders, to ensure a coherent regulatory framework that protects consumers and vulnerable groups in particular. This includes supporting work on age verification tools, working with other EU Member States, and through Ireland’s Government Digital Wallet, to support robust age verification in a way that protects users’ rights, including privacy, while enhancing online safety. The Government will work actively with like-minded Member States to explore options to introduce age restrictions on the use of social media, concentrating in particular on those under sixteen years of age. Ireland will strongly advocate for a decision on the “digital age of majority” to be taken at EU level and that any decision take account of the forthcoming report of the European Commission’s expert panel, but will take action domestically if necessary. More broadly, with the advent of AI, new challenges and risks will continue to emerge, and the Government will ensure that these are addressed in a timely, robust and comprehensive manner. Ireland will hold the Presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of 2026, and online safety will be a priority, including the protection of women and children, in particular, from the misuse of digital tools.

The Government recognises the risk of potential job displacement due to the adoption of AI technologies. The impact of AI on future work remains uncertain, with potentially a broad reach across sectors, including, for example the arts, media and creative sectors. While it will undoubtedly create new opportunities, it also poses risks of jobs and skills displacement. Recent research⁷ shows that Ireland is relatively more exposed to AI-related disruption than other advanced economies, with exposure and complementarity to AI increasing in line with educational attainment, and female workers and younger workers more likely to work in exposed roles.

The Government will support workers to navigate and mitigate the impacts of potential job displacement due to the adoption of AI technologies, including through the provision of appropriate skilling, upskilling and reskilling supports.

We will establish a National Skills Observatory as Ireland’s centre for labour market and skills intelligence. This will be a valuable source of data and insights on key AI metrics, including labour market trends and skills needs. We will also establish an Observatory for Business AI Readiness (OBAIR) which will collect data and develop intelligence on use of AI by enterprise in Ireland. OBAIR, together with the National Skills Observatory, will inform Government in shaping future enterprise and jobs policy, and directing targeted investment in upskilling and reskilling initiatives, to ensure that our workforce is supported and empowered to adapt as roles evolve.

The Strategy sets out 20 high-level Objectives, with 90 supporting Deliverables, reflecting the breadth of activity right across Government to ensure we meet our digital and AI ambitions to 2030.

Delivering on our digital and AI ambitions will require a whole-of-Government approach to address both key challenges and risks, as well as maximising opportunities. As we accelerate our digital transition across the economy and society, we will ensure a coordinated and outcome-focused approach, improving domestic coherence across government, the public service, and our regulatory framework.

We will work collaboratively to progress delivery across all pillars of the Strategy and in coherence with other relevant Government strategies. Implementation will be driven from the centre of Government by the Department of the Taoiseach, reporting regularly to the Cabinet Committee on the Economy, Trade and Competitiveness. Successful implementation and delivery will be informed by regular engagement with stakeholders, across all pillars of the Strategy.

In a fast-changing world, agility and flexibility becomes ever more important, and we will continue to review and adapt deliverables and ambitions over the lifetime of this Strategy.

We will accelerate a transformational change in how we deliver public services, ensuring that by 2030, every interaction with public services is simpler, faster, and more intuitive. We will transform the way services are designed and delivered through systemic innovation, widespread use of digital tools, and the responsible adoption of AI, to make services more accessible, responsive, inclusive and usercentred.

Government will lead by example, helping to raise awareness, trust and confidence across society, to support wider adoption of AI and other technologies.

We will make Ireland a location of choice for AI and Digital startups and scale-ups, and a global hub for applied AI innovation, building on existing sectors of strength, a strong skills and talent base, and research expertise and excellence. We will accelerate our support for enterprise, to enable them to fast-track adoption of Digital and AI tools in a safe and trustworthy manner, to deliver productivity and competitiveness gains.

We will future-proof our Digital and AI Infrastructure, to ensure it is secure and resilient, meeting the needs of its users. The Government is focused on accelerating its cyber security capacity, skills and adoption, to keep pace with the significant increase in cyber-related risks.

Research and innovation in academia, industry and the public service depends on access to scalable accelerated computing and data environments. Our participation in the EuroHPC AI Factory ecosystem, through an AI Factory Antenna in Ireland, as well as our EuroHPC supercomputer, CASPIr, will provide a robust foundation for our research and innovation communities to collaborate and thrive, and to iteratively expand our modular national High-Performance Computing and AI infrastructure.

Ireland will further strengthen our strategic engagement on the EU’s digital agenda. We will continue to be a strong advocate at EU level for a balanced and proportionate approach to digital regulation, to enable Europe to close the innovation gap. This will ensure that the EU Single Market operates efficiently and fairly, allowing healthy competition, encouraging investment and innovation, and protecting consumers. We will strengthen Ireland’s position as an EU Centre of Excellence and digital regulatory hub by delivering a collaborative, predictable and efficient digital regulatory framework that supports innovation through agile regulation, protects consumers and supports our reputation as a digital leader.

Our ambition is to maximise the benefits that digital technologies and AI can offer by ensuring that all groups in society and the workforce are supported and empowered, through agile and inclusive digital skills and literacy offerings, as well as accessibility supports.

Safety in a digital world is a priority for the Government, in particular the safety of vulnerable groups, such as children and young people, and we will ensure timely and robust responses as new challenges and risks emerge.

We will support workers to navigate the impacts of potential job displacement, including through agile, accessible and fit-for-purpose skilling opportunities.