When Andrew Hines talks about Ireland’s artificial intelligence (AI) future, he doesn’t start with algorithms or supercomputers. He starts with housing and the cost of living.
“PhDs can’t afford to live here,” says the assistant professor at University College Dublin. “Research Ireland is funding huge amounts of PhDs to be trained, but they’re leaving afterwards because there isn’t an incentive to stay.
“These young researchers can’t go and start a company in Ireland,” explains Hines. “They don’t have the residency and visa to be able to do that, so they move abroad.”
For Hines, the bottlenecks are clear: housing and visas, but most of all, AI infrastructure.
RM Block
“If we’re going to compete in AI, we need to look at the necessary infrastructure and invest in that,” he says. “ICT [Information and communication technology] infrastructure should be treated like roads and rail and every other critical infrastructure at this point – and that’s not currently the case.”
Regulation: overreach or opportunity?
Ireland’s AI talent retention challenges come just as the European Union’s AI Act – the world’s first comprehensive attempt to regulate artificial intelligence – begins to take effect.
The Act is intended not only to set guardrails for companies, but also to signal Europe’s determination to shape the culture of AI research itself. That culture was on display during September’s Heidelberg Laureate Forum – a meeting of laureates in computer science and mathematics – in Germany.
During the event, Canadian computer scientist Richard Sutton urged young researchers to ignore debates about regulation and ethics and just “focus on developing the AI”. His libertarian message reflected a North American view of technology and jarred many Europeans in the audience.
Hines hears that argument constantly. “I hear that point so much – that we’re overregulating,” he says. But he rejects the idea that rules are a drag on innovation in AI.
“Regulation is put in place for the benefit of society, to protect people from harm and to manage the balance between economic and social benefit.”
In fact, he argues, clear rules can help companies. “Good, clear regulation is something that a lot of companies will want because it allows them to de‑risk what they’re doing.” The AI Act, he notes, “takes human rights and safety as priority number one”.
From an academic perspective, he believes the Act will strengthen rather than weaken research. “From an academic and publicly funded research perspective, it means that we’ll develop, deploy good AI systems that benefit people. And to me, that’s what it’s all about.”
Call for a national AI institute
The idea is that it’s not regulation that will set us back – it’s infrastructure. But Ireland has recently announced new investments in AI infrastructure and supercomputing.
That includes the Irish AI Factory Antenna project, which has secured €5 million in European funding – matched by national support to bring the total to about €10 million. The initiative, led by the Irish Centre for High‑End Computing and CeADAR, the national centre for AI, is designed to give start‑ups, researchers and public bodies access to advanced AI tools.
Alongside it, the Government has also cleared a key hurdle towards installing a new supercomputer – named CASPIr – at the University of Galway, a project expected to cost in the tens of millions. Both are billed as milestones in building the country’s AI capacity.
On a more global scale, the European Commission insists that Europe is well placed to lead in artificial intelligence. A spokesperson told The Irish Times that “building on its strong AI infrastructure, as well as Europe’s talent, the EU is well positioned to accelerate the use of AI in key sectors and science.”
“The AI in Science Strategy positions the EU as a hub for AI-driven scientific innovation,” added the spokesperson. “At its centre is Raise – the Resource for AI Science in Europe – a virtual European institute to pool and co-ordinate artificial intelligence resources for developing AI and applying it in science.”
But Hines is sceptical about whether our strategy here in Ireland is coherent, and believes that even the best computing power won’t help if researchers can’t afford to live here or secure visas to stay.
“For me, the problem is it’s not a joined-up strategy in any way,” he says. “We need to have a national AI institute and we should be co-ordinating the infrastructure along with that.” Without such co-ordination, he argues, Ireland risks falling behind countries like Canada, which has invested billions in AI research.
Globally, the competition is fierce. The United States remains the gravitational centre of AI, with its combination of elite universities, venture capital, and industry‑academia pipelines. Asia, meanwhile, is scaling rapidly: China’s state‑driven investment dwarfs most European efforts.
Ireland cannot match these giants in scale. But it could carve out a distinctive role. With its strong tech sector, English‑speaking research base, and alignment with EU regulation, Ireland could position itself as a trusted hub for ethical AI development.
Early‑career anxieties For Fergal Murphy – a PhD researcher in mathematics, who also attended the Heidelberg Laureate Forum – the rise of so-called AI assistants in mathematics raises existential questions around the future of employment in his discipline.
For Murphy, who moved from Ireland to Germany to take a PhD position, it’s not just how Europe regulates or funds AI, which can affect talent retention – and where researchers can work in the future. It’s about how entire disciplines may be reshaped in the process.
“I think by the time I graduate my PhD, modern mathematics will have changed so much that AI math assistants will work incredibly well,” he said. “And then what happens? Is there still a role for human mathematicians? Some people think it could put us out of a job.
“Anybody that says they know with certainty what will happen is kind of risking their credibility. Nobody really knows.”
Hines, too, worries about how AI tools could disrupt the training of young researchers. “If you start relying on these things, you kill off your apprentices, because you say to yourself, I don’t need the apprentices any more,” he warns. “But then how do people learn to be [researchers]? How do they actually learn the hard way?”
The danger, it seems, is that Ireland could lose not just talent but the very apprenticeships and mentorships that turn students into researchers. If early‑career training and mentorship erode, the country risks weakening the foundations that sustain research across generations.
And in a global race where rivals are investing heavily, Ireland cannot afford to let its pipeline of knowledge falter. The question now is whether it can create the conditions for researchers to stay and grow – a choice that will shape its role in the AI era.
A defining choice
So Ireland stands at a crossroads. It has the talent, the tech sector, and the EU frameworks to lead in AI. But unless the country fixes the basics – affordable housing, a visa system that rewards researchers, and the ICT infrastructure to support research – it risks losing ground to more agile systems abroad.
For policymakers, funders, and university leaders, the challenge appears to be urgent. The future of Ireland’s place in the global AI landscape will depend on choices made today – not just about regulation or research culture, but about whether young researchers can afford to live here, build careers here, and see Ireland as a place to stay.
- Conor Purcell, PhD, is an award-winning science journalist who writes about science policy in climate, sustainability and AI.
