AI Adoption in Irish Small Firms: Work In Progress

Are Irish SMEs Ready for AI? Insights from the Ground

The conversation about AI and small business has moved on. It is no longer about whether Irish SMEs should pay attention, but about the level of AI adoption in Irish SMEs. Of course, many are already using these tools day to day. The more interesting question now is what is actually happening, and what is getting in the way.

I spoke with four people who work directly with small businesses on digital adoption and AI: John O’Shanahan of Lean BPI, digital strategist and lecturer Aisling Hurley of TBF.ie, Eoin Costello of the Dargan Institute in Dun Laoghaire, and Sandra Reynolds, programme manager for digital supports at LEO Dublin City.

AI Adoption, Most SMEs Are Using AI, But

John O’Shanahan sees AI being used across many of the small businesses he works with.

“People that are digital are generally using AI to some level. Most of them are using it to rewrite emails, rewrite documents and give me ideas.”

He compares it to how businesses use Excel. Most people use a fraction of what is possible, not because the tools are hard to access, but because the foundations underneath them are not ready.

“To get advantage out of AI, you should really be putting your Digital in from the foundations. If you have good data in your business, you can use AI to analyse it. But if the data isn’t structured, AI can’t do anything with that.”

The Right Sequence Matters

The order of things is important: understand your processes first, digitise properly, then bring AI in. Otherwise, as O’Shanahan puts it, you are digitising inefficiency.

When businesses get the sequence right, the results can be significant. He points to “Profix, a Cork-based construction services firm, where careful digital improvement over a decade brought quotation turnaround from three days to ten hours, then to three hours. With their AI now integrated into the process, it takes around 1.5 hours with further reductions possible as their AI model is optimised.” A quotation process that once consumed days of skilled staff time now runs in hours, freeing capacity that feeds directly back into the business.

“Everyone agrees the best AI output is AI plus human. The human part needs to have domain knowledge.”

That point about domain knowledge is central to everything O’Shanahan says. Your expertise in your own field, he argues, will matter as much as your knowledge of the AI tool itself.

The Strategic and Ethical Gaps

Aisling Hurley works with rural SMEs and teaches digital strategy. She sees businesses picking up AI tools without thinking carefully about what they are taking on.

“Leadership needs to set guardrails. AI is not just another productivity tool. It changes how value is created.”

Many firms are experimenting with Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT without a clear approach to governance, data security or longer-term strategy. For Hurley, the ethics of AI adoption are not an afterthought. They are part of the conversation from the start.

“There’s a difference between attending an AI workshop and embedding AI strategically in a business.”

Rural SMEs Face Additional Pressures

In rural areas, the challenge is compounded. Connectivity constraints, limited access to local expertise and thinner professional networks create barriers that urban businesses do not face to the same degree.

Hurley also raises the question of digital sovereignty, and it is worth taking seriously. European businesses, including Irish SMEs, are increasingly dependent on AI tools and cloud platforms owned and operated in the United States. That dependency has a political dimension that is becoming harder to ignore. The current US administration has already shown it is willing to cut off digital services to individuals on political grounds. For businesses that have built workflows and operations around these platforms, the question of what happens if access is restricted or withdrawn is one that very few have thought through.

Pace of Change Is Underestimated

Eoin Costello’s view is direct. The speed of AI development is moving faster than most SMEs realise, and incremental adoption may not be enough.

“The scale of change will be unprecedented compared to previous technological shifts.”

Professional services are particularly exposed, Eoin comments. Knowledge that once sat with experienced mid-level managers is increasingly being captured in data systems and AI models. Many business owners are dismissing these concerns based on past predictions about technology that did not materialise. Costello thinks this time is different, and he is impatient with the comparison.

Eoin’s Advice Has Changed

“Take time out. Spend time immersing yourself in AI. Think about where you want to be in five years.”

He now encourages SME owners to step back from day-to-day operations entirely for a period and engage seriously with what these tools can do. His measure is simple.

“If you feel you’re falling into the dismissive group about AI, try one of the AI tools for an hour. Talk to it. If you’re not convinced in that hour, then you are never going to adapt to the technology. But, the other side of making that investment is hugely democratising.”

With around 150,000 small businesses in Ireland, Costello believes current support structures are reaching only a minority of those who need to engage with this question. Local hubs, he suggests, can facilitate a gentle transition from traditional business models toward AI-integrated approaches in ways that national programmes cannot always reach.

What Support Is Actually Available

Sandra Reynolds manages the digital support programmes at LEO Dublin City. Two programmes are particularly relevant for SMEs at any stage of the digital journey.

Digital for Business provides a structured assessment and tailored roadmap. Grow Digital then offers grant support to implement recommended tools. Both are open to businesses with up to 50 employees, taking them beyond the usual LEO client profile. Creative and content-focused businesses are among those showing strong interest in AI-related supports.

Reynolds notes that many tools that businesses are already implementing, across CRM, e-commerce and operations, now have AI capabilities built in. Businesses are often using AI without labelling it as such.

“The onus is on the client to understand what they’re taking on.”

Full details on both programmes are available directly from your Local Enterprise Office.

What All This Points To

Across these four conversations, a consistent picture comes through.

AI use among Irish SMEs is real but often shallow, and is a work in progress. The strongest results come where processes and data are already well-structured. Domain knowledge matters as much as the tools themselves. Ethics and governance are not getting the attention they deserve. And the pace of change is moving faster than many support structures were built to handle.

If you run a small business, the most useful thing you can do right now is not first to find a new AI tool. It is to take a clear look at your processes, your data, and your own understanding of where this technology is going.

Supports Available to Irish SMEs for AI Adoption

Irish SMEs looking to build AI capability can access a mix of public supports and independent training.

Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) offer Digital for Business assessments and the Grow Digital Voucher, helping firms map digital needs and implement new software, including tools with AI features.
Enterprise Ireland supports scaling companies through its Digital Transition Fund, which can include automation, data and AI-enabled projects.
Skillnet Ireland provides subsidised industry-led training in digital skills, data analytics and AI for employees of Irish companies.

CeADAR Ireland’s Centre for AI  supports start-ups, SMEs and large scale organisations to identify, design and develop AI strategies, prototypes and solutions.

Independent providers, range of supports vary from entry level for SMEs from Guardian Safety Online, as well as free AI courses from AWS AI Learn and Google, offer additional learning options for SMEs seeking practical or technical grounding.

Header image courtesy of Aisling Hurley, TBF.ie

About Billy Linehan

Billy Linehan is a freelance writer covering innovation, tech for good and entrepreneurship, and a regular contributor to Irish Tech News. He leads Celtar Advisers, working as a business mentor with SME and startup founders, and co-founded StartUp Ballymun, Dublin’s longest-running entrepreneurship series.

For a deeper look at the policy dimension, read my recent interview with Sasha Rubel at AWS re:Invent, where Europe’s AI challenge is examined from the inside,  Europe’s AI problem isn’t technology but policy.

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