Rose Conway-Walsh: Wake-up Call on Meta Job Cuts and AI Risk
Rose Conway-Walsh warns that recent job cuts at Meta and reported layoffs at outsourcing firm Covalen are a wake-up call for the Government to diversify the economy and protect workers. She challenges the Taoiseach on what concrete steps will be taken to build a new economic model, attract sustainable FDI and deliver reskilling as AI and automation reshape jobs.
What she said
Rose Conway-Walsh set out concerns about the immediate impact of job losses at Meta and Covalen and argued these developments should prompt urgent government action. She framed the cuts as evidence that reliance on a narrow range of foreign investment leaves jobs vulnerable when technology and corporate decisions change.
AI and automation as a pressure point
She highlighted that many recent redundancies have been linked to AI and automation, warning that the Government must not allow technological change to become a pretext for wider job losses across the sector. Reskilling and retraining were flagged as essential parts of any response.
Policy challenge to Government
Conway-Walsh pressed the Taoiseach on steps to build economic resilience, asking what plans exist to diversify the economy, attract new strands of FDI and underpin recovery with good, sustainable jobs. The exchange included the Government line on competitiveness and AI investment, but the central question remained what concrete policy will protect workers.
Stakes and next steps
The intervention centres on competitiveness, jobs and long-term economic strategy. The debate raises questions about industrial policy, FDI strategy and state support for retraining as Ireland seeks to remain an attractive destination for investment while protecting domestic employment.
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First of all, recent announcements regarding job cuts at Meta and possibly at one of the outsourcing firms, Covaline, serves as another wake-up call for government that we need to diversify the economy and to build a new economic model and to attract new strands of FDI. Many of these job cuts have been attributed to AI and to automation, but the government cannot allow this to be a catalyst for further job losses across the sector and we must ensure that Ireland remains competitive and an attractive destination for FDI. So Taoiseach, what is the government doing to build a new economic model and to build economic resilience that's underpinned by good jobs? Ros Connolly watched, diversified, I think I've covered that with Deputy O'Carroll, we have to remain competitive, we are attracting more AI investments into the country and there's a race on here to be competitive here and there will be impacts and I think Deputy O'Carroll said to me earlier, re-skilling, re-training is going to be key to it.
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