AI development and automation for Irish businesses

Sort the project into an AI Act tier first

The EU AI Act is a regulation, so it applies in Ireland without a separate Irish law. Ireland has been setting up its national supervisory bodies, and which one covers you depends on your sector, so ask your lawyer who your regulator would be. The application dates have also been adjusted, so confirm the current timetable before you plan around it.

The tier decides how much paperwork the project carries. Here is how typical requests sort.

GDPR, the DPC and ePrivacy

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) regulates data protection in Ireland under GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Because many large technology companies have their EU base in Dublin, the DPC has examined how big AI models use personal data, and Irish buyers tend to ask sharper questions than average about where data goes.

The ePrivacy Regulations 2011 sit beside GDPR. They cover cookies on chat widgets and the rules for electronic marketing, which matters if an AI voice agent or SMS flow contacts people.

Because our team works from India, which has no EU adequacy decision, personal data seen from there counts as a transfer, even if the servers are in the EU. Remote access is enough. This is how we would document it.

1. List where the data is seenServers, model provider, our laptops, your CRM. Include places that only read the data.
2. Pick the transfer toolFor a controller using a processor outside the EEA, the standard contractual clauses are the usual route.
3. Assess the destinationWrite down what local law could let a public authority reach the data and whether extra safeguards are needed.
4. Reduce what travelsBuild and test on masked or synthetic data. Real records are touched only in a controlled step.
5. Review on a scheduleRevisit the record each year and whenever the model provider or hosting region changes.

Time zones: Ireland and India

A naming clash first. On this page IST means India Standard Time, UTC+5:30 all year. Ireland has its own summer clock, which we call Irish summer time. Ireland is on UTC+0 in winter and UTC+1 in summer, changing on the last Sunday of March and October, and went back to winter time on 25 October 2026.

In winter the shared window is short, so we would plan a morning call in Dublin and keep reviews written. Testing sessions that need your staff live are easiest in the first half of the Irish morning.

One project for Ireland and Northern Ireland

If your bot or agent serves customers on both sides of the border, two legal regimes can apply at once. The table shows the main differences. Our UK AI page covers the UK side in more detail.

The practical effect is small for most chatbots: one privacy notice that names both regimes, two sets of retention rules if they differ, and a decision on which currency the bot quotes.

Euro, VAT and market ranges

We do not publish prices for our own work. You get a fixed quote after a short call; start on the contact page. As market data only, the Clutch AI pricing guide reports that AI projects typically cost $10,000 to $49,999, with an average of $120,595, in US dollars.

Convert to euro at the rate on the day of payment. Irish VAT is 23% at the standard rate. A VAT-registered Irish business buying services from outside the EU normally accounts for the VAT itself under the reverse charge and can usually deduct it in the same return, so the net effect is often nil. Your accountant should confirm this for your case.

When you do not need a custom build

If your company already runs on Microsoft 365, test what Copilot Studio can do before commissioning anything. If your support desk has a built-in AI agent, run it for a month on real tickets. Custom work earns its cost when you need answers drawn from your own documents, actions in several systems, or tight control over where data sits.