Ireland: Government designated eight National Competent Authorities under the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act)

On 4 March 2025, the Government of Ireland approved a recommendation from the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment to adopt a distributed model for the implementation of the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act). The decision included the designation of an initial list of eight public bodies as competent authorities, namely the Central Bank of Ireland, the Commission for Communications Regulation, the Commission for Railway Regulation, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, the Data Protection Commission, the Health and Safety Authority, the Health Products Regulatory Authority, and the Marine Survey Office of the Department of Transport. These authorities were assigned responsibility for implementing and enforcing the EU AI Act within their respective sectors. The Government further indicated that additional authorities, together with a lead regulator to coordinate enforcement and provide centralised functions, would be designated by a subsequent decision. The EU AI Act entered into force in August 2024, with its provisions applying on a phased basis through to August 2027, including prohibitions on certain high-risk practices, regulatory requirements for specified high-risk systems, transparency obligations for limited-risk applications, and obligations for providers of general purpose AI models, with penalties of up to EUR 35 million or 7% of global turnover for infringements.