16. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment to provide an update on the measures, if any, he has taken or intends to take to implement the will of the Dáil as expressed in its resolution of 14 July 2026 on protecting the copyright of Irish artists in the era of Artificial Intelligence. [66672/26]

During the discussion on the Dáil resolution of 14 July 2026 I spoke of how Ireland’s copyright, AI and digital policy legislation are closely aligned with developments at the European Union level.

On the day of the discussion in the Dáil, I had the great pleasure of meeting a delegation of creators and performers, and their representative organisations IMRO, the Ivors Academy and the Screen Composers Guild of Ireland. I have also engaged with Senator Frances Black and RAAP on this topic. I want to thank them for the time they have taken to set out their concerns on this matter.

I will address points that are within the remit of my Department.

Ireland assumed the Presidency of the Council of the EU on 1st July. There are some developments to report, however further measures in relation to copyright at EU level are expected in mid-2027.

The European Commission is reviewing the operation of the Copyright in the DSM Directive, and this is expected to conclude in mid-2027. In parallel, they are analysing evidence received from stakeholders on the possible need for targeted amendments to the EU’s copyright framework. This includes issues around licensing and enforcement in generative AI. They are also examining the issue of deepfakes, which particularly affects performers, but which extends beyond copyright. We understand that a public consultation will open soon, giving stakeholders a further opportunity to input on policy options. New measures are expected in mid-2027.

As part of our Presidency, Ireland is facilitating discussions on issues as they arise in the review of the Copyright in the DSM Directive, matters identified in the European Commission’s call for evidence and recent technical studies at European Union level.

Minister Peter Burke and I will be speaking at the Presidency associated conference on “Copyright and Human Creativity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”, organised by rightsholder organisations and endorsed by my Department, which will be held in Dublin on 14 October. European Commission Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen will be a guest speaker.

The AI Advisory Council has now wound up, as Ireland establishes a regulatory structure to implement and enforce the EU AI Act. On 31st July Minister Burke appointed members of the Board of Oifig IS na hÉireann (the AI Office of Ireland). The Board members bring extensive expertise across public administration, regulation, technology, governance, law, academia, consumer protection and ethics. This includes a representative with expertise in standards organisations developing a unified response to deepfake technology and shared rights metadata at international level.

The EU AI Act contains provisions applying to providers of general-purpose AI that entered into force on 2 August 2025. Article 53 requires models made available in the EU to be compliant with EU copyright law, in particular Article 4(3) of the Copyright in the DSM Directive (the Text and Data Mining (TDM) exception). The General-Purpose AI Code of Practice developed under the AI Act?helps industry comply with the legal obligations on copyright. Providers are also required to complete a ‘Transparency Template’ providing a high-level overview of data used to train models. Since the Dáil debate, the EU AI Office has assumed its powers to enforce these provisions of the AI Act, beginning on 2 August.

From the 2 August also, Article 50 of the AI Act imposed mandatory transparency obligations on providers and deployers of AI systems, although AI systems already on the market before then will have until 2 December 2026 to comply. These rules have a number of applications, including copyright. Compliance will be enforced by both the national competent market surveillance authorities and the EU AI Office.