Productivity in Ireland 2024 - 2025

This chapter presents statistics relating to the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by companies in the manufacturing, construction and some selected services sectors, using data from the Survey on e-Commerce and ICT (see Information Society Statistics - Enterprises 2025). Further details are available in the Background Notes of the survey.

Eurostat defines AI as systems that use technologies such as text mining, computer vision, speech recognition, natural language generation and speech synthesis, machine learning or deep learning. These technologies can be used to gather and / or use data to predict, recommend or decide, with varying levels of autonomy, the best action to achieve specific goals. AI systems can be software-based (e.g. image recognition software, virtual assistants, speech and face recognition systems) or embedded in devices (e.g. autonomous robots, self-driving vehicles, drones). AI use in this release means that an enterprise used at least one of the AI technologies listed in the survey.

Overall, the use of AI has grown over the past three years from around 8% of all surveyed enterprises in 2023 to over 20% in 2025.

Figure 10.1 shows the percentage of firms using AI by sector over the period 2023 to 2025. All of the sectors shown have seen an increase in the use of AI over the period. Enterprises operating within the Information and Communication sector show the highest use of AI when compared to other sectors. In 2023, 28.4% of these enterprises reported using AI technologies. By 2025, this figure had increased to 61.3%, the highest amongst all enterprises in the period.

Enterprises classified in the Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities sector and the Administrative and Support Service Activities sector recorded the highest growth rate in AI usage over the period. In 2023, 12.7% of these enterprises utilised AI, increasing almost 2.5 times to 30.1% by 2025. Growth in AI use was observed in the Wholesale and Retail Trade, Transportation and Storage and the Accommodation and Food Service Activities sector in the period. In this group, AI usage climbed steadily from 4.3% in 2023 to 9.0% in 2024, reaching 14.1% in 2025. For enterprises across the Manufacturing, Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning, Water Supply, Sewerage and Waste Management sectors, AI adoption remained broadly flat between 2024 and 2025 at 17.6% and 17.4%, respectively. The lowest rate of AI usage among surveyed enterprises in 2025 was recorded in the "Other" group at 10.8%. This group comprised of Construction, Real Estate, and Repair of Computers and Communication Equipment enterprises.

AI use in Foreign owned and Domestic owned companies

While foreign owned firms maintained a significantly higher overall level of adoption in all periods, the rate of AI adoption slowed in 2025. In contrast, AI uptake among domestic owned enterprises increased strongly year-on-year in both 2024 and 2025. AI adoption among foreign owned enterprises operating in Ireland increased to 43.6% in 2025. The corresponding figure for domestic owned firms was 16.3% in 2025. The Detailed Ownership Approach described in the earlier chapter Labour Productivity by Ownership is used in this chapter. Further details on this approach can be found in the Background Notes. 

Figure 10.2 shows the percentage of firms using AI by detailed ownership for the period 2023 to 2025. Foreign-owned enterprises demonstrated early integration of AI technologies, with adoption jumping from 18.5% in 2023 to 40.1% in 2024. Growth moderated between 2024 and 2025, reaching 43.6% of foreign owned enterprises.

Domestic owned enterprises recorded lower adoption levels but experienced sustained growth across the three-year timeframe. In 2023, 5.8% of domestic owned firms reported using AI, increasing to 10.8% in 2024, and rising further to 16.3% in 2025. By 2025, foreign owned firms remained nearly 2.7 times more likely to utilise AI technologies than domestic owned firms (43.6% compared to 16.3%).

AI and Productivity

In 2025, productivity increased modestly across several sectors amidst growing AI adoption, though it is important to note that a direct causal link is not possible to confirm from this analysis.

Figure 10.3 shows that increases in productivity were most pronounced in the Information and Communication sector, and the Manufacturing, Electricity, Gas & Steam, Water Supply Sewerage & Waste Management sectors. For example, growth occurred in Information and Communication in labour productivity of 26.6% over the period 2023 to 2025. In that same period AI use in enterprises in the sector increased from 28.4% to 61.3%.

In the chapter on Labour Productivity By Ownership, we saw that labour productivity increased by 17.5% for foreign owned companies. In that same period, AI use more than doubled from 18.5% to 43.6% of foreign owned companies. For domestic owned companies, we saw labour productivity advanced by 2.8% in the period along with an increase in AI use from 5.8% of domestic owned companies in 2023 to 16.3% of domestic owned companies in 2025.

Figure 10.4 shows Labour productivity alongside AI usage (% of enterprises). Each dot on the chart represents a year and if you hover over the chart you can see the productivity and AI usage for the year and for a particular sector. The ICT sector can be seen to have both high productivity levels and AI usage when compared to other sectors. Manufacturing, Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning, Water Supply, Sewerage and Waste Management sectors show increasing AI usage in the period but we see that productivity declined in 2024. This makes it difficult to infer any relationship between AI usage and productivity in this broad sector.