Dublin unveils strategy for responsible AI adoption 23 June 2026 by Jonathan Andrews As Ireland’s capital city prepares to launch its AI strategy, Jonathan Andrews spoke to Jamie Cudden, Executive Manager for Corporate Services & Transformation with Dublin City Council, a founder member of the City Innovation Network Dublin City Council has established what it describes as Ireland’s first Generative AI Lab dedicated to local government, creating a structured environment where staff can test artificial intelligence tools, develop practical use cases and build organisational capability before wider deployment across council services. Through a combination of formal oversight groups, mandatory staff training and controlled experimentation, Dublin is seeking to balance innovation with public trust, transparency and compliance as AI becomes increasingly embedded in local government operations. An AI strategy for Dublin City Council is scheduled for publication in the third quarter of 2026 and will set out the organisation’s vision and principles for deploying and scaling AI. Jamie Cudden, Executive Manager, Corporate Services & Transformation, Dublin City Council, says the objective is to realise the benefits of AI while ensuring strong governance and accountability. “We are focusing on human oversight, transparency, privacy, fairness, accountability and security from the outset, rather than treating governance as something added later,” he says. Building governance before scale Dublin City Council has introduced a two-tier governance structure to oversee AI adoption across the organisation. An AI Governance Group provides strategic oversight and decision-making around policy, acceptable use, organisational readiness and priority use cases. Alongside it, an AI Technical Group focuses on implementation matters including infrastructure, tool assessment, permissions, security, cyber risk, technical evaluation and support for pilots and use cases. The groups bring together representatives from IT, Digital, Legal, Data, HR, Corporate Services and Transformation. “Coordination happens across business, innovation, information systems, data protection and cybersecurity