Welcoming the delegation, Secretary and Director of the Audit in C&AG Colette Drinan highlighted the significance of the visit and affirmed Ireland’s readiness to share experience in developing its 2026-2030 audit strategy, particularly in strengthening the legal framework, performance auditing, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data analytics.

Dung said the visit was meaningful as Vietnam and Ireland celebrate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations (1996-2026), following General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President To Lam’s state visit to Ireland and the inauguration of the Vietnamese Embassy in Dublin.

He reviewed the SAV’s development over more than three decades, noting that its status was enshrined in Vietnam’s 2013 Constitution as an independent institution responsible for auditing the management and use of public finance and public assets. He expressed his hope that the visit would lay a foundation for direct, substantive and long-term cooperation between the two institutions.

The Vietnamese official expressed his wish to learn Ireland’s experience in reviewing and improving the State Audit Law; developing the SAV’s development strategy to 2035 with a vision to 2045; and applying information technology, big data analytics and AI to audit activities. These areas, he said, are crucial to modernising the SAV and improving the quality and effectiveness of public auditing.

The Irish side introduced its 2026-2030 strategy, issued in December 2025 after extensive consultation and international research. The strategy focuses on improving audit service quality and generating practical impact for audited bodies, Parliament and the public, based on four pillars: people, processes, partnerships and technology.

Regarding technology, Ireland shared experience in developing digital auditing capacity, with data analytics used in audit planning, risk assessment and detecting unusual transactions. The approach enables auditors to examine entire datasets rather than rely solely on sampling.

AI has also been applied to document review, summarisation and information extraction. Its use, however, is subject to human oversight, verification of outputs before they are used as audit evidence, and strict information-security requirements.

Dung highly valued Ireland’s organisational model and strategic approach to people and technology, saying its experience in automated data extraction, secure technology applications and thematic audit reporting would provide useful references for Vietnam in developing its audit strategy and studying amendments to the State Audit Law.

The working session contributed to laying a foundation for substantive and long-term cooperation between the SAV and Ireland’s C&AG./.