Alan Healy: AI is coming for young Irish people's jobs

Ireland's job market shows early AI impacts, with a new report detailing weakening opportunities, particularly for young workers, despite strong future potential.

Data from LinkedIn shows the concentration of AI talent in Ireland is among the highest in the world – and the 4th highest in the EU.

It was just under two years ago when the then-finance minister Michael McGrath made headlines when he said that a third of jobs in Ireland could be at risk from artificial intelligence (AI).

He was speaking of research from the department of finance, which said 63% of employment in Ireland would be impacted by AI. At the time, AI was still spoken of in terms like "emerging technology" but the warning about the potential impact on our labour market, positive and negative, was stark.

A new report published this week by the same Department suggests those warnings are starting to come true. The Irish economy has a high concentration of employment in knowledge-intensive services, including in ‘highly exposed’ ICT, financial services and professional activities sectors. 

The research from June 2024 found that Ireland’s labour market was more exposed to AI than the advanced economy average, with 63% of employment relatively exposed to AI. As a result, it warned that Ireland may be among the first advanced economies where early AI labour market impacts become measurable.

The new research has now found early evidence that AI is weakening employment opportunities, with the sectors identified as most at risk from AI already experiencing weaker growth.

Postings on job websites show the change. Recruitment notices on the website Indeed show AI terms are mentioned in over 11% of all jobs as of November 2025, up from just 4% in November 2023. This figure for Ireland is around three times that of both the EU and the US. 

Concerningly, it is the younger workers who are most at risk. Traditionally, younger workers adopt new technologies and skills to their distinct advantage and use them to create a disruptive effect in their chosen industry. This has occurred for centuries.

However, early indications seem to flip this narrative on its head. In Ireland, employment among 15 to 29-year-olds within the 'at risk' category of AI fell by 1% between 2023 and 2025 despite employment continuing to grow in these sectors overall. Within the technology sector, employment amongst young workers is down 20%.

The research also found that in sectors with lower AI exposure, employment growth among younger workers outpaced that of older workers.

While other factors, such as headcount reductions and the cyclical nature of recruitment, may well be the reason for such a decline, it highlights the uncertain future the jobs market here faces.

There are, of course, many opportunities from AI, as has been repeatedly stated.

Ireland may be the most at risk of AI, but it is also best positioned to take advantage. The share of postings mentioning AI almost doubled between November 2024 and November 2025, having already doubled in the preceding year. We have the highest share of STEM graduates per capita in the EU. Data from LinkedIn shows the concentration of AI talent in Ireland is among the highest in the world – and the 4th highest in the EU.

Either way you look at it, Ireland's labour market is at the forefront of AI adoption and is the first to face widespread labour market disruption.

While we may be in the vanguard, the rest of the world is not too far behind. Our old friend, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), found that five years after the appearance of AI skills in job postings, employment in regions with greater demand for AI skills was 3.5% lower than elsewhere.

Just weeks ago, I wrote here about the services sector being targeted specifically by emerging AI products. Employment in Ireland is now another canary in the coal mine and provides yet another warning sign of the over-concentration of industry here, with just a small number of companies in specific sectors providing the bulk of corporation tax receipts, significant swathes of income taxes and employment.

Despite the warnings of this over-concentration, the economy has not broadened. The most ardent critics of this reliance, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, said this week that 46% of our corporate tax receipts, equivalent to €13bn, came from just three companies. While the companies are not named in the Ifac research, it is understood that the three highest corporation tax payers are Apple, Microsoft and Eli Lilly.

Ifac said this reflects the increasing concentration of Ireland's corporate receipts. The three companies accounted for around a third of all corporation tax receipts from 2017 to 2021.

The State has put increasing amounts of excess tax receipts into rainy day funds. Last month, €1.5bn was transferred into the Future Ireland Fund, the growing pot which cannot be drawn down on until 2041.

In relation to AI impact on our workforce, the Department of Finance said the speed of AI deployment means policy responses will need to be proactive to support workers in exposed sectors to up-skill and re-skill where necessary and support smooth labour market transitions. The stunning speed of the emerging AI technology means this will prove challenging.

It seems our labour force and state finances are becoming larger and larger eggs in smaller and smaller baskets.