The Creative & Communications Association (CCA) has welcomed the AI skills investment announced in Budget 2027, while calling for companies receiving support through a new €1 bn funding programme to commit a share of the investment to advertising and marketing.
The association said the three-year National Training Fund skills package, which includes €150m targeted at strengthening skills in response to changes brought about by AI, represented a positive step towards its pre-Budget call for investment in AI and digital training.
Siobhán Masterson, chief executive of the CCA, said the funding offered an opportunity to help businesses develop their workforce alongside investment in technology.
“Our Pre-Budget message was that Ireland’s ability to benefit from AI depends on investing in people as well as technology. The new National Training Fund skills package is a welcome step in that direction,” she said.
Masterson said the priority was to ensure businesses, particularly smaller firms, could access practical training to apply AI effectively and develop the skills their teams needed. She said many CCA members had expertise in this area.
The association also welcomed the announcement of a €1bn Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) programme to support the next generation of large Irish companies. However, it called for recipients to be required to allocate a proportion of their funding to advertising and marketing delivered by domestic agencies.
“If we want Irish companies to grow internationally while remaining rooted here, we need to support their ability to win customers as well as their capacity to innovate,” Masterson said.
“The effectiveness of advertising and marketing is completely underestimated in this country and should be built into scaling plans from the outset.”
She said requiring recipients to engage domestic agencies would strengthen the companies receiving investment while supporting expertise and economic activity within Ireland’s creative and communications sector.
The CCA also acknowledged the five-year extension of the Knowledge Development Box as continued support for intellectual property developed in Ireland.
It also welcomed the Government’s commitment to review enterprise grants, tax incentives and business development programmes, and reiterated its call for an Innovation Tax Credit.
