Ireland: A Look at the EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act, its Impact on Employers and What They Can do to Prepare
The EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act (the “Act”) is an EU regulation that aims to create a harmonised regulatory framework for AI across the EU, particularly in relation to the safeguarding of individual’s health, safety, and fundamental rights. The Act came into force in August 2024 and the majority of its provisions will be phased in over the next two years, until August 2026 – allowing time for delegated legislation to be introduced in each Member State.
The Act creates a risk-based categorisation of AI systems, which influences the approach taken to regulating those systems. The risk levels include: unacceptable risk, high risk, limited risk, and minimal risk.
Impact on Employers
From an employment law perspective, the Act will have significant impact on AI systems used in the employment and human resources sectors, which are already becoming increasingly common. The vast majority of AI systems related to human resources are deemed to be high risk systems under the Act. This means that systems that assist with recruitment and candidate selection, promotion or termination, monitoring or evaluation of employee performance and appointing tasks among staff, would be subject to the restrictions and obligations placed on “high risk” systems.
The Act also introduces a prohibition on the use of AI systems for the purpose of emotional inference during recruitment or performance of duties and a prohibition on biometric categorisation systems that infer protected characteristics such as sexual orientation, race, and religion.
It is important to note that employers can also be deemed “providers” of AI systems under the Act and, therefore, may be subject to greater responsibilities and obligations. “Providers” is broadly defined and means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency, or other body that develops an AI system or a general-purpose AI model or that has an AI system or a general-purpose AI model developed and places it on the market or puts the AI system into service under its own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge.
Recent Developments in Ireland
On 4 March 2025, the Irish government approved a recommendation to implement a distributed regulatory model in respect to the enforcement of the EU AI Act. Under the proposal, an initial list of eight public bodies was produced, who would act as the relevant authorities responsible for the implementation and enforcement of the Act within their respective sectors. These authorities include the Central Bank of Ireland, Commission for Communications Regulation, Commission for Railway Regulation, Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, Data Protection Commission, Health and Safety Authority, Health Products Regulatory Authority and the Marine Survey Office of the Department of Transport.
This initial list is not conclusive, and there will be future decisions that will include the appointment of additional authorities and a lead regulator, which is envisaged to ensure the Irish Government is thorough in its implementation of the Act.
Advice for Employers
It is recommended that employers start taking steps to prepare for the implications of the Act for their workplace. In doing so, we would advise employers to:
- First, identify any AI systems that the employer operates;
- Try to identify the risk level applicable to the relevant AI systems;
- During review of any AI systems being operated, determine if the employer would be categorised as a provider or deployer under the Act;
- Determine who will have responsibility for oversight of the AI systems in place and ensure that staff receive proper training regarding this responsibility; and
- Make staff aware of the pending employer obligations under the Act and consider developing specific policies governing the use of AI systems and ensure staff are aware of and compliant with this policy.
