Mary Doyle first chair of Ireland’s AI Office
The Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment has approved the appointment of the first chair and six board members of the AI Office of Ireland.
Mary Doyle, a former assistant secretary general and deputy secretary general in the Departments of the Taoiseach, Health and Children, and Education and Skills, will chair the board.
Last week, the Government named Paul Byrne as the first chief executive of the body, which has been set up to co-ordinate the implementation of the EU’s AI Act in Ireland.
The board will be responsible for the governance and oversight of the office’s functions, which are set out in the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Act 2026.
‘Extensive experience’
The six board members appointed along with the chair are:
- Prof Deirdre Ahern (Professor in Law, Trinity College Dublin),
- Dr Michelle Kearney (Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment),
- Siobhan Noble (chief data and AI officer, Carne),
- Donal Rooney (chartered accountant and business leader),
- Dr Alessandra Sala (senior director of AI and data science, Shutterstock), and
- Prof Alan Smeaton (Emeritus Professor of Computing, DCU).
Prof Ahern is also chair of the Company Law Review Group. She and Prof Smeaton are former members of the Government’s AI Advisory Council.
The department said that the board members brought extensive expertise across public administration, regulation, technology, governance, law, academia, consumer protection, and ethics.