Motion to protect copyright of Irish artists in the era of Artificial Intelligence has been "unanimously adopted" by Dáil

A motion to protect the copyright of Irish artists in the era of Artificial Intelligence has been "unanimously adopted" after being debated in the Dáil yesterday.

The motion, put forward by TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh of Sinn Féin, was seconded by his party colleague Rose Conway Walsh, who said Irish artists were being "ripped off". The coalition government did not oppose the motion, leading it to be formally accepted by the house.

The Minister of State responsible for AI acknowledged the concerns of the artists in attendance.

“Ireland is committed to ensuring that AI technologies are developed and used in a manner that is ethical, transparent, and aligned with national, EU, and international law,” Niamh Smyth said.

Irish musicians, songwriters and composers discussed the impacts of AI developments on their careers in a briefing at the Dáil.

The Ivors Academy, the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO), the Screen Composers Guild of Ireland, Soda Blonde, Iain Archer from Snow Patrol and Danny O'Donoghue from The Script were among those in attendance to support the motion.

"It's vital that the government backs us on this motion to protect Irish songwriters and composers from the misuse of generative AI," said Danny O'Donoghue.

The debate comes after a sustained campaign by the Ivors Academy, IMRO and the Screen Composers Guild of Ireland, urging the government to lead European action on creators rights during the EU presidency.

"Ireland has an opportunity to lead the conversation on creators' rights during its Presidency of the Council of the European Union," said Catherine Martin, head of policy at the Ivors Academy.

"We hope this motion builds momentum for meaningful, practical action. We urge members of Dáil Éireann to support songwriters and composers by voting in support of the motion on 14 July."

The motion demands legislation for "fair remuneration, licensing, opt-outs and legal protections for creators."

Danny O'Donoghue shared his experience yesterday at Leinster House, explaining that 125 of his songs with The Script had been scraped - used in training sets of data, in this case for five different AI companies. The artist told RTÉ he was made aware of this through The Atlantic's AI detection tool.

A study on the economic impact of Generative AI by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) in 2024 found that AI would put 24 per cent of music creators' revenues at risk by 2028 and lead to a cumulative loss of €10 billion over the next five years.

Generative AI systems generate massive outputs to commit streaming fraud. In April 2026, streaming service Deezer found that up to 85% of streams for AI-generated tracks in 2025 were fraudulent. It also found that 75,000 fully AI-generated tracks are uploaded to Deezer every day, representing approximately 44% of total daily uploads.

"We are living through the greatest art heist in history," Ó Snodaigh cemented.

"Today, the Dáil unanimously adopted a motion I was privileged to write to protect the copyright of Irish artists in the era of artificial intelligence," Eoghan Ó Finn, who works as a parliamentary assistant at the House of the Oireachtas, wrote in an Instagram post.

"Yesterday, a motion on creators’ rights in the age of generative AI was passed in Dáil Éireann, put forward by Sinn Féin and supported by organisations including @imro.music@screencomposersirl @ivorsacademy and more. But this work is only beginning," read the post from Soda Blonde.

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