Guide

The EU AI Act and hiring in Ireland: a plain guide for employers and recruiters

Last updated 10 October 2026

If you use software to screen, test or interview job applicants, the EU AI Act and GDPR both matter. This guide answers the questions an Irish employer is likely to ask, in plain words.

Does the AI Act cover hiring tools?

Yes. The EU AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) lists AI systems used for the recruitment or selection of people, including systems that analyse and filter job applications and evaluate candidates, in Annex III, point 4, under the heading employment.

In practice that means a tool that ranks CVs, scores a test or interviews a candidate for a job is likely to fall inside this part of the law. A tool that only schedules interviews is a different question, and you should ask the vendor how it has classified itself.

What counts as high-risk?

An AI system listed in Annex III is treated as high-risk. There is a narrow exception for systems that do not pose a significant risk of harm, for example one that only performs a narrow procedural task, but a system that profiles people is always high-risk.

The vendor of the tool has to document its own assessment if it decides a listed system is not high-risk. Ask to see the result. If a vendor says its tool is outside the high-risk rules, that is a claim to check, not a fact to accept.

What are the dates?

The ban on inferring emotions at work has applied since 2 February 2025. The high-risk rules for the hiring tools listed in Annex III apply from 2 December 2027, a date set by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, which amended the AI Act in July 2026.

The Act's general start date was 2 August 2026, which is when the Article 50 transparency duties began to apply. The high-risk rules are the main exception, and for hiring tools they start on 2 December 2027. Because the dates were amended in July 2026, read the Commission timeline on the day you rely on it. We link it below.

What applies already today?

The ban on inferring emotions at work, the duty to tell people they are dealing with an AI, and the GDPR rules on automated decisions apply already.

The ban on emotion inference. Article 5(1)(f) bans AI systems that infer the emotions of a person in the areas of workplace and education institutions, except for medical or safety reasons. A tool that claims to read mood or feelings from a face or a voice is a red flag. Ask the vendor how it is allowed under Article 5(1)(f).
Telling people they are talking to an AI. Article 50(1) says systems meant to interact directly with people must be designed so that the people concerned are informed they are interacting with an AI system, unless that is obvious. A candidate should know at the start if the interviewer is not a person.
GDPR. The Irish Data Protection Commission says you have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, where it is carried out without human intervention and produces legal effects or significantly affects you. Where an exception applies, suitable safeguards must be in place, which may include a way to obtain human intervention, present a point of view and challenge the decision.

What should you ask any vendor?

Use these questions with any AI hiring tool. A good vendor answers them in writing.

What exactly does the tool do with a candidate's data, and who sees the result?
Does it make a decision or only make a recommendation? Can a person overrule it every time?
Is the candidate told at the start that they are dealing with an AI?
Does it try to read emotions or feelings from faces or voices?
Has the vendor assessed whether the tool is high-risk, and can you see that assessment?
Where is candidate data stored, which other companies handle it, and for how long is it kept?
Can a candidate ask for a person to review the outcome?
Can you get an explanation of how a score or recommendation was reached?
How are recordings and identity documents handled, and when are they deleted?
If you stop using the tool, can you export your data and have the rest deleted?

Who decides, the AI or the person?

A named person should make the final decision. GDPR limits decisions made only by software where they significantly affect a person. The AI can sort, test and summarise the first steps. Ask who makes the decision to proceed, hold or decline, and whether that person can give a reason. It is easier to settle that before you buy a tool than after.

How Fios AI approaches this

Fios AI is an Irish product in private build. Seamus finds candidates, Cara delivers a test and Aoibheann runs a first interview by video. Candidates are told they are talking to an AI. For each candidate who completes the interview, a recruiter reads the report and decides whether to proceed, hold or decline. Because it ranks and interviews candidates, we treat Fios AI as a high-risk system under Annex III. See how it works.

Sources

This page is general information, not legal advice.