Ireland's National AI Office and Regulatory Sandbox — Statutory Basis Under the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Act 2026

Ireland is implementing the EU AI Act's requirement (Article 57) for national AI regulatory sandboxes through a National AI Office, to be established by 2 August 2026, and the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Act 2026, reported as commencing on 31 July 2026.
The legislation provides for the AI Office to set up one or more sandboxes giving businesses, especially SMEs and start-ups, a controlled environment to test innovative AI systems under regulatory supervision before market deployment. The Office also acts as national single point of contact for the European Commission and other Member States and is to maintain national AI registers and technical guidance for sectoral regulators.
The distributed enforcement model is notable: sectoral regulators keep their remits while the AI Office coordinates.
Caution: at the time of research neither cohort sizes, admission criteria in operation nor any testing outcomes were published, so the sandbox's effect on compliance or innovation is unevaluated.

Read the full analysis: https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/news-and-events/department-news/2025/september/20250916.html