AI can reshape Irish economy if we invest in people: Accenture chief
Hilary O’Meara, country managing director at Accenture Ireland.
Reskilling for AI adoption needs to pick up pace as Ireland’s AI transformation is not evolving in a way that can deliver sustained productivity gains, cautions one industry leader.
Hilary O’Meara, country managing director at Accenture Ireland, says that, for decades, a combination of ambitious policy, global investment and home-grown talent has positioned Ireland as a leader in technology.
Now, artificial intelligence marks the next turning point and it will demand a new level of leadership from Irish business.
Accenture's latest Gen AI report – ‘Generating Impact: Turning frontier AI capabilities into frontline productivity and growth in Ireland’ – shows that 64% of Irish workers believe they will need to reskill as AI changes how they work. Some 44% of Irish companies have begun investing in reskilling and redeployment pathways, compared with 30% in the UK.
But, while employees are positive about AI, almost half (47%) say they have been expected to use new technology without any training.
In this Q&A interview, Hilary O’Meara argues that this gap between enthusiasm and capability is now the biggest risk to competitiveness for Irish business.
Adoption is already well underway. Across the workforce, employees are using AI tools to work more efficiently and creatively.
That said, many companies are still experimenting with tools rather than fundamentally rethinking how work gets done. As a result, benefits are often contained within isolated use cases, rather than driving sustained business performance. In short, Ireland is using AI but not yet transforming with it.
At the centre of this challenge are people. AI will reshape roles, skills and career paths across every sector, but without investment in capability, confidence and support, progress will stall. The biggest constraint is not access to technology, but whether people feel equipped to use it effectively.
As Minister Peter Burke rightly said: “The opportunity AI presents is transformative for our businesses and wider economy, from boosting productivity to enabling entirely new ways of working. The real priority must now be on people – ensuring they have the skills, confidence and support needed to engage with the technology effectively.”
Our latest Gen AI report highlights both the opportunity and the work still to be done. While momentum is building, the workforce transformation required is significant. 64% of Irish workers believe they will need to reskill as AI changes how they work and 44% of Irish companies have already begun investment in reskilling and redeployment pathways, compared with 30% in the UK.
While this points to strong intent from employers, many organisations are still missing the foundations needed to scale confidently. Employees are open to AI and interested in using it, with 70% saying AI and new technologies make their jobs better, yet support has not kept pace.
Almost half (47%) say they have been expected to adopt new technology without sufficient training, while 35% do not yet feel confident using AI tools. Only a quarter of employers have provided clear guidance on when and how to use AI.
In other words, enthusiasm is not the issue. The challenge is turning that enthusiasm into capability. Bridging this gap will be critical if organisations are to move from isolated experimentation to meaningful, economy-wide productivity gains.
Ireland starts from a position of strength, with all the ingredients to lead in the age of AI – a highly skilled workforce, strong collaboration between public and private sectors and deep links to the global technology ecosystem. The question now is whether businesses can convert early adoption into a lasting competitive advantage.
Two in five (40%) business leaders report that AI is already delivering cost savings, with similar gains in employee productivity. Yet scaling these benefits remains a challenge. Concerns around data security and privacy, regulatory uncertainty and access to talent continue to hold organisations back from fully realising AI’s potential.
What we are seeing is a pivotal moment, with adoption no longer being the main barrier. The real challenge now is translating early use into sustained, organisation-wide impact.
First, learning must become continuous. One-off training programmes cannot keep pace with the speed of change, so organisations need to embed learning into the flow of work.
Second, work must be redesigned, taking a people-centric approach. The goal is not to replace jobs, but to reimagine them - freeing people to focus on higher-value work where judgement, creativity and human connection matter most.
Third, leaders must provide clarity. Employees need to understand how AI will be used, what is expected of them and how their roles will evolve. Without that clarity, adoption will remain fragmented and the use of unsanctioned or “shadow” AI tools will continue to grow.
Realising AI’s full potential will require coordinated action across Ireland. Government can continue to set direction and expand access to skills, while the education system evolves to meet changing demand. But ultimately, it is within organisations that AI will either succeed or fail at scale.
With the right approach, Ireland can strengthen its position as a leader in AI-driven growth and innovation. But realising that potential will depend on the choices businesses make now and their willingness to invest not only in technology, but in their people.
Getting this right will not just drive productivity, it will shape the quality of jobs, the resilience of businesses and Ireland’s ability to compete internationally in the decade ahead.
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