AI fears, hopes, and rising construction costs

Artificial intelligence (AI) companies should be “ selling solutions ” in areas like cybersecurity rather than “selling fear”, a conference in Dublin heard on Tuesday. Ciara O’Brien reports from the Government’s International AI Summit at Dublin’s RDS, at which a coterie of top tech executives, including OpenAI chief financial officer Sarah Friar, discussed their hopes and fears for the technology. Also speaking at the event was Brad Smith, one of the most senior executives at tech giant Microsoft. He told Ciarán Hancock on the Inside Business podcast that AI’s impact on the jobs market could take up to 25 years to play out fully . High construction costs and planning uncertainty are the biggest barriers to the delivery of properties in Ireland, according to developers, while – perhaps surprisingly – access to finance is down their list of concerns. Killian Woods reports on a new survey from EY Ireland, which also indicates a strong appetite for debt among developers despite recent interest rate increases. Meanwhile, Stephen Conneely reports from a separate event on creativity and copyright in the age of AI. Ruadhán Mac Cormaic, editor of The Irish Times, told the conference that large-language models have “hoovered up areas of the internet and didn’t ask for any permission”, effectively leading to “billion-dollar companies pretty much overnight as a result of others’ intellectual property”. Network, regulatory, policy and other costs account for more than half of what Irish people pay for electricity , according to research from a new think-tank, Trifecta Ireland. Barry O’Halloran has the details. The Irish Government wants more cars on Irish roads to be electric. That makes a lot of sense, but there are barriers to entry, not least the cost. That’s where an old solution may provide a new fix, writes Emmet Ryan . Citroën has relaunched its 2CV model for the EV market. It might be just the shot in the arm that the European market needs. Not only can money not buy you love, writes Conor Pope, new research suggests it also can’t buy you peace of mind or optimism either. The September 2026 consumer sentiment index shows consumer confidence at 61.1, compared with an average over the 30 years the index has been running of 83. It means that Irish people are richer but they’re also more nervous and gloomy now than back when the Celtic Tiger was starting to purr. In Ask the Lawyer , a reader asks what happens to her sister-in-law’s share of a family home if she dies or is placed into residential care? Our Innovator to Watch this week is Aishling Flaherty, who has built Caboodle , an online marketplace bringing small Irish retailers together. She speaks to Olive Keogh about turning a €200,000 problem into an ecommerce platform. Ciara O’Brien sits down with the European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation for a wide-ranging chat about the bloc’s attempts to address the challenges raised by the Draghi report, funding for deep tech and digital sovereignty. In keeping with the AI theme, Eoin Burke-Kennedy reports that entry-level hiring in “ AI-augmented occupations ” in Ireland declined by 16 per cent in the second quarter of 2026, according to a new survey of labour market trends. Eoin also has the details of new Central Bank of Ireland figures , which illustrate a significant rise in the cost of variable rate mortgages in Ireland, raising concerns that borrowers may be facing into a winter of financial strain. Finally, Cantillon takes a look at new research that seems to prove the old adage about a happy worker being a productive worker and, separately, some measures the Government could adopt to cut energy bills by the end of the decade. If you’d like to read more about the issues that affect your finances try signing up to On the Money , the weekly newsletter from our personal finance team, which will be issued every Friday to Irish Times subscribers.