Committee on Public Petitions and the Ombudsmen (Houses of the Oireachtas)
- Type
- Body with AI jurisdiction and named seats
- Place
- Ireland
- Last checked
- 2026-09-22
- Next check due
- 2026-12-21
Named seats
- Louise O'Reilly, TD (Sinn Féin) — chair
Official, up-to-date list of members Verified
Ways to reach them
- Public submission route
Its AI responsibilities
No AI remit of its own; it is Ireland's citizen-initiated route into the Oireachtas. An AI-related petition — on enforcement of the EU AI Act in Ireland, on data centres, on algorithmic decision-making by a public body — is considered here and can be referred onward to the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence.
Current business
Rolling petitions caseload plus oversight of the Ombudsman offices.
Public route
'You can also petition the Houses of the Oireachtas on matters on which it has the power to act. A special Committee of TDs and Senators, the Committee on Public Petitions, will consider your petition. The Committee will publish your petition and may invite you to speak directly to them.' No signature threshold — an individual may petition.
Format rules
Petitions are PUBLISHED by the committee. The petitioner may be invited to address the committee in person. The matter must be one on which the Houses have power to act.
Key people
Deputies: Pat Buckley (SF), Peter 'Chap' Cleere (FF), Eoin Hayes (Social Democrats), David Maxwell (FG), Maeve O'Connell (FG), Brendan Smith (FF). Senators: Chris Andrews (SF), Paraic Brady (FG), Joe Flaherty (FF), Aubrey McCarthy (Independent).
Research note
VERIFIED 2026-09-22 by direct fetch of the committee's Oireachtas membership page and the Oireachtas 'Making a submission' page, from which the quoted description is taken.