7. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to report on her recent meeting with a company (details supplied) and its relevance to Ireland's foreign affairs and trade policy in relation to AI, digital deregulation and big tech. [69240/26]

Last week, I travelled to New York to attend the UN General Assembly High Level Week during which AI was a prominent theme this year. In relevant engagements I highlighted the opportunity provided by the AI Summit in Ireland later this year.

While in New York there, I also undertook a programme to promote trade and economic links. These engagements were an opportunity to focus on Ireland’s trade and investment relationship with the United States at a time of significant change and uncertainty in the international trading environment. Maintaining strong, stable and predictable economic relationships matters enormously for an open economy like Ireland's.

During the visit, I met with ServiceNow, the U.S.-based enterprise AI platform company. Since establishing operations in Ireland in 2018, ServiceNow has grown to employ more than 750 people in Ireland. My discussion with ServiceNow centered on artificial intelligence, digital governance, and operating infrastructure.

Throughout my trade-focused meetings in New York, I made the case for continued transatlantic trade and investment and for removing, rather than creating, unnecessary barriers to doing business. I set out the ongoing body of work at EU level on competitiveness and simplification, including the EU’s digital simplification package. The EU’s simplification agenda is about better regulation, not deregulation. I took the opportunity to articulate Ireland’s position in favour of an ambitious digital simplification package that can support the EU’s strategic positioning as the location of choice for trustworthy digital innovation, while maintaining a central focus on protecting data privacy and fundamental rights of citizens.