785. Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the usage of artificial intelligence within his Department; the categories of usage; the usage of artificial intelligence within any bodies under the aegis of his Department; the categories of usage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57224/26]

816. Deputy John Brady asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance to provide an overview of the AI policy in place within his Department; if AI has been incorporated into any work streams; if AI is ever used in reply to parliamentary questions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58660/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 785 and 816 together.

Department of Finance

I can confirm for the Deputy that my Department has developed an Interim Strategy on the Adoption and Use of AI within the Department. This has been circulated to all staff, and access to Microsoft Copilot Chat was provided to all staff in December 2025. The Interim Strategy sets out an initial approach to support the Department in its use of AI and provides guidance to ensure adherence to appropriate security, governance, risk management and data controls. The interim strategy is aligned with the Guidelines for the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Public Service, which were launched in May 2025.

The Department’s strategy provides that artificial intelligence should not be used to generate official content, such as Memos for Government, responses to Parliamentary Questions, Ministerial Representations, Ministerial speeches, and should only be used as an aid. Users should validate and verify AI-generated content and disclose where AI-generated content is used. The main uses of AI in the Department are to summarise long published documents and to assist with research.

Furthermore, the Department follows guidance from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) including “Cyber Security Guidance on Generative AI for Public Sector Bodies” released in June 2023, and the recent publication "Securing AI Adoption in the Public Sector Cyber Security Guidelines for AI Deployments".

The NCSC guidance recommended that new technology should only be adopted based on a clearly defined business needs following an appropriate risk assessment.

The following information has been provided by the Bodies under the Aegis of my Department.

Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG)

I am informed by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General that it does not currently use Artificial Intelligence tools for the performance of its functions. The Office is currently piloting the use of Microsoft Copilot to identify and evaluate potential uses.

Investor Compensation Company Limited (ICCL)

The ICCL uses Microsoft 365 Copilot and Adobe Acrobat generative AI to assist staff with drafting and editing of documents, meeting management, collaboration, and general help queries. AI usage is governed by an Acceptable Usage Policy which has been approved by the ICCL Board. The ICCL has adopted an AI usage training program to assist in the acceptable usage of AI tools by its staff.

Credit Review Office (CRO)

Credit Review Service (CRS) has been provided with access to Microsoft’s Copilot AI tool by Enterprise Ireland.

CRS staff utilise this tool for scripting of narratives used in advertising in various publications. CRS advise that AI is not used in appeals process, interactions with borrowers, responses to PQ’s or responses to any correspondence from outside of the organisation.

National Treasury Management Agency’s (NTMA)

The National Treasury Management Agency’s (NTMA) categories of artificial intelligence usage include workforce productivity, data analytics and cyber security operations, through the use of, respectively, Microsoft 365 Copilot, machine learning by the State Claims Agency to support certain data analytics processes, and AI enabled cyber security monitoring services utilised by the ICT area.

Please note the NTMA provides certain business and support services and systems to National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI) and Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI). ICT services are one such service provided to these bodies.

Central Bank (CB)

The Central Bank of Ireland uses a variety of AI tools, both commercial and internally developed, to assist staff in their internal work of delivering the Bank's objectives. This includes using AI to:

• Accelerate software development by helping developers to write and test code

• Provide general information, answer questions, explain concepts, and support learning and development

• Expand data analytics by helping analysts to query and analyse data, visualise results, and generate insights

• Increase the efficiency of common business processes by accelerating and automating routine/procedural tasks

• Make it easier to work with documents by automatically searching, comparing, summarising, and preparing drafts

Training in the responsible use of these tools has been provided to all staff to maximise the benefits and minimise the risks associated with AI.

Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO)

The FSPO has not rolled out AI use across the organisation. FSPO advise that it has commenced consideration of how it might be useful, exploring how other Public Service bodies may be deploying it and examining what efficiencies may be achieved while considering risk factors.

To facilitate this process, the FSPO has provided a small number of staff with limited AI access to assess usefulness in a limited administrative capacity. FSPO will follow the guidance of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) along with the Guidelines for the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Public Service, published by the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation.

The internal IT team are undertaking training in AI skills in preparation for appropriate application once a strategy and supporting governance artefacts have been developed.

Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC)

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council pays for a specific software suite that includes artificial intelligence (AI) tool(s), which are utilised in a limited and controlled basis to support administrative and analytical functions. The use of this licensed software ensures that any use of AI complies with relevant legal, regulatory, governance, data protection, cybersecurity obligations and is in line with any supporting policies and procedures.

Office of the Revenue Commissioners

I am advised by Revenue that it has a long track record in harnessing technology and innovation to deliver on its mission. Revenue has very strong policies and governance in place covering the use of all ICT technology and this includes AI. Revenue has implemented several initiatives using AI based technologies; these include:

- Using Natural Language Processing(AI/NLP) to classify and route queries from Revenue’s MyEnquiries online channel to the correct back-office location for processing.

- An AI assistant (RevAssist) which is available to all Revenue staff to simplify and expedite access to the information contained in its Tax and Duty Manuals (TDMs) and Taxes Consolidation Act Notes for Guidance.

- In late 2024, in a pilot deployment, RevAssist was expanded to include a service to create initial drafts of TDMs for review and editing by subject matter experts. This service is now in full live use since 2025.

- In 2025, an AI based Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system was deployed to extract key data from documents and image-based material and used by staff to expedite the 1st pass validation of information.

- In 2026, AI services were deployed to transcribe and then summarise telephone calls made to Revenue customer service telephony services. This feature automates note making and improves turnaround time on call handling.

- RevAssist has been expanded to assist staff accessing other internal data sources such as Revenue Technical Services Decisions, Tax Appeal Judgements and various Helpdesk material.

- Sundry mini–Generative AI services have been deployed to aid administrative processes such as document summarisation, generation of keynote points and analysis of legacy ICT code.

- Revenue are currently piloting using AI in the Software Development Life Cycle to reverse engineer legacy IT system code and to update that code to modern IT languages.

These AI systems were developed in adherence with the EU AI Act and the Government’s Guidelines for the Responsible Use of AI in the Public Service, published in 2025. All Revenue AI deployments to date would be in the “Minimal” or “Limited” Risk categories as defined by the EU AI Act.

All Revenue AI systems use private, sandboxed instances of AI products that secures all data under Revenue control at all times.

Revenue has deployed to staff AI training courses on the use of AI systems and on the use of Large Language Model (LLM) AI systems.

The following Bodies under the Aegis of my Department provided a nil response:

• Credit Union Advisory Committee (CUAC)

• Credit Union Restructuring Board (ReBo)

• Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal (DDMBA)

• Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC)

• Irish Financial Services Appeals Tribunal (IFSAT)

• Tax Appeals Commission (TAC).