Tá áthas orm bheith in ann labhairt ar an mBille seo trathnóna. Ba mhaith liom moladh a thabhairt don Aire Stáit, an Teachta Smyth, agus an Teachta Ó Cearúil as ucht a gcuid oibre leis an mBille seo a chur le chéile. I welcome the establishment of oifig intleachta shaorga na hÉireann, which will be a very important piece of the architecture to ensure the overall enforcement and monitoring of this legislation. My plea at this stage, as we establish that office, is that we staff it appropriately, get the appropriate talent and hire the appropriate professionals with the skills necessary to ensure we have strong and competent regulation in terms of how we engage with AI in Ireland. I emphasise that is not necessarily just saying we need to regulate. It positions Ireland as a very strong centre for companies and research centres that want to learn more about how to use AI. If we have the people and professionals in our regulatory and monitoring authorities who are able to watch, monitor and collaborate with that innovation, it will set us up to be a better centre for regulation, both in Ireland and across the European Union. Alignment with the European Union is extremely important in this instance. The second point I make is with regard to the need to encourage innovation. LinkedIn data shows that Ireland is exceptionally attractive to AI engineers from all over the world. We have seen net positive migration of those individuals to this country over the past year. That shows we have the skill sets and competence in this country and in that sense the oifig should be thinking about innovation. I encourage the Minister to consider whether there is scope to include in the Bill provisions to make oifig intleachta shaorga na hÉireann take the mandating and encouraging of innovation very seriously, not only in encouraging innovation around AI but also ensuring the regulation is fit for purpose. Often the criticism is made in this House and other places that regulation does not catch up with technology as it is developed. One solution would be to have the regulator sitting beside centres of innovation so it understands how that innovation takes place and how the resulting regulation can take account of that. My third point relates to the need to ensure the oifig takes training and proficiency in AI skills as a core part of its mandate and in the roll-out of its work. All of the research on AI points to the fact that while AI technical skills are extremely important, human-centric skills, such as problem solving, team building and critical thinking, are also important. They are what makes AI such a powerful tool and it is important the oifig does not lose sight of that. I encourage those three points to be taken into account as the Bill proceeds to Committee Stage.

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