Ireland's AI Boom Runs Through Brussels and Big Tech

Ireland has the EU’s highest AI user share: 49.9 per cent. In an opinion article published on Monday, November 2, 2026, Marie McGinley argued that the next question is who will own the businesses and products built around that adoption. Ireland needs to move beyond using AI and build businesses, intellectual property and products that generate lasting economic value there.

That pitch sits between US technology investment and the European single market. McGinley, a partner and head of the technology and innovation group at Matheson LLP, said major technology companies have established significant European operations in Ireland, bringing jobs, investment and expertise. The arrangement has made Ireland a technology hub. The challenge is to keep more of the resulting value in the country, rather than stopping at adoption and hosting other companies’ operations.

Microsoft’s latest Global AI Diffusion report puts Ireland’s AI user share at 49.9 per cent, the highest in the EU and well above the global average of 18.8 per cent. McGinley said existing technology infrastructure and Ireland’s position between US investment and the single market offer a foundation for further development. The opportunity, she argued, may lie in applying AI to particular industries, rather than trying to build the next frontier model or match infrastructure under development elsewhere.

Who captures the value

Ireland has expertise in technology, financial services, life sciences and healthcare, the article said. Businesses could combine that industry knowledge with AI tools to develop products addressing commercial problems. Pitchbook data records €947.3 million across 182 Irish AI deals since January 2025, including €256 million across 75 deals so far in 2026. Ireland ranks second in Europe for AI venture-capital deal count per capita.

But those figures describe activity, not where ownership, specialist employment or economic value will remain. McGinley identified keeping those benefits in Ireland as the challenge. She also pointed to energy and infrastructure pressures, competition for skilled workers, rival investment efforts elsewhere in Europe and regulatory complexity that can affect where products get tested and commercialised.

Regulation, with a Brussels-sized asterisk

McGinley said Ireland shouldn’t have to choose between effective regulation and a competitive AI sector. EU member states’ backing of the Dublin Declaration on “trustworthy, safe and sovereign artificial intelligence” reflects that argument, while putting sovereignty and competitiveness into the policy pitch. The Startup Ireland AI Accelerator Programme and an additional €45 million announced for technology centres by 2030 are further signals. Their value, McGinley said, depends on how policy, investment and regulation work in practice.

For businesses developing AI products, the rules need to be clear, she said, and there should be opportunities to consult regulators early. That requires Ireland’s regulators to have sufficient resources and technical expertise, along with co-ordination between the AI Office of Ireland, the Data Protection Commission and other relevant authorities. A proposed AI Regulatory Sandbox could give businesses practical access to regulators as they test products and prepare to bring them to market.

McGinley’s case wasn’t for lighter regulation. Trust matters particularly in financial services and life sciences, she said, and it was a recurring theme at the International AI Summit hosted in Dublin as part of Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union. Her stated aim is regulation that protects people while remaining clear and proportionate enough to support investment and development. The balance won’t be measured just in adoption figures, but in whether Irish businesses, intellectual property and jobs actually stay in Ireland.