The AI Skills Gap Is Now Ireland's Biggest Operational Risk: What Technology Leaders Must Do Next

By Jed Nykolle Harme

June 09, 2026

Photo Credits: Magnific

Ireland's AI ambitions are running ahead of the talent available to deliver them. EY Ireland's fifth annual Tech Leaders Outlook Survey, conducted with 150 senior technology leaders in March and April 2026, finds the skills shortage has deepened, with 36% citing it as the most significant barrier to executing their agenda, up from 24% in 2025. This is not a future risk. It is the primary operational constraint on AI deployment across Irish organisations today.

The report is an operational excellence audit as much as a technology strategy survey. AI investment is accelerating, with 82% of Irish technology leaders now investing in the technology, up from 44% last year. Investment without the talent to deploy it creates cost without output. Organisations that will pull ahead are those treating AI skills development as a core operational priority.

The scale of the gap is striking. Internal capacity concerns have risen from 6% to 16% in a year, while nearly 20% of leaders are now prioritising succession planning and leadership development. Ronan Walsh, head of technology consulting at EY Ireland, stated that the single most significant barrier facing Irish technology leaders is a shortage of skilled employees to implement new technologies or progress complex transformation programmes, and that AI specialists are in short supply while training cannot keep pace.

The investment momentum is real and encouraging. Almost 40% of organisations have an AI strategy and 45% are actively exploring possibilities. Yet one in five leaders have not seen meaningful value emerge from AI, and one in five identify the inability to adopt AI fast enough as a key concern, up from 12% in 2025. The gap between ambition and workforce capacity is precisely where operational performance is being lost.

The talent picture offers an opportunity framing. Some 84% of leaders believe AI will have no impact on recruitment levels, and only 6% expect it to reduce hiring. AI is reshaping the workforce, not replacing it. The demand is for people who can deploy AI tools responsibly and extract measurable operational value. That is the skills profile Irish organisations must now build.

Three operational priorities emerge from the EY Ireland findings. First, treat AI skills investment with the same urgency as AI technology investment: the returns are interdependent. Second, formalise internal capacity planning around transformation programmes, addressing the rise from 6% to 16% flagging this as a barrier. Third, establish structured reskilling pathways, working with Skillnet Ireland and higher education partners to build AI-ready workforces.

The EY Ireland report confirms that Ireland's AI trajectory is positive but that progress depends on closing the talent gap. Organisations that invest in people as decisively as they invest in technology will convert AI ambition into durable operational performance.

(The views expressed by the writer are his/her own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of BusinessRiver.)