I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 23, inclusive, together. I joined leaders in Cyprus for an informal meeting of the European Council on 23 and 24 April. The main focus of this meeting was to discuss the geopolitical situation including in the Middle East and Ukraine, and to discuss the next multi-annual financial framework for 2028 to 2034, which is essentially the next European Union budget. At the meeting we had an important exchange with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, who attended in person. We reaffirmed our steadfast support for Ukraine and agreed on the need to increase pressure on Russia to ends its war and engage in meaningful peace negotiations. We welcomed the two recent decisions to strengthen Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia, first the €90 billion loan to support Ukraine's overall budget and defence needs in 2026 and 2027, and the 20th package of sanctions to weaken Russia's war machine. On the Middle East, leaders welcomed recent ceasefires in Iran and Lebanon and urged all parties to engage in good faith to achieve peace. We expressed our support for diplomatic efforts to achieve a negotiated solution to the conflict. In response to the impact that the conflict in the Middle East is having on energy prices, President Costa also underlined the importance of co-ordination and stressed that the European Union must speed up its energy transition and accelerate the deployment of homegrown clean energy sources to ensure energy security. Affordability of energy for households and businesses and its centrality to Europe's competitiveness were also discussed. Leaders also considered the European Union's next multi-annual budget, or multi-annual financial framework, MFF. Leaders will return to this discussion at our next meeting of the European Council in Brussels on 18 and 19 June next. This discussion will be based on an updated proposal with figures, the so-called negotiating box, prepared by the Cypriot Presidency. We will work with President Costa during our upcoming Presidency of the European Union with a view to securing agreement by the end of the year if at all possible. Leaders also returned to our discussions on Europe’s competitiveness. On the margins of the meeting, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, as the rotating President of the Council of the European Union, and the Presidents of the European Parliament and the European Commission signed an agreement on the implementation of the "One Europe, One Market" roadmap, delivery of which will be a central focus of our European Union Presidency. Leaders also held a number of exchanges, including the usual engagement with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and a working lunch with the leaders of Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and the Gulf Cooperation Council, where we discussed shared challenges and emerging opportunities for co-operation. In the lead-up to Ireland assuming the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 July, I have been visiting my counterparts in European capitals to hear their views on key files and priorities. This has included visits to, among other countries, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France, Italy and, most recently, Hungary.
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The first question was from Deputy Malcolm Byrne. The additional staff in the Department of foreign affairs are focused on the Presidency and that is why they were recruited. As I have said before, it will mean a very significant additional workload all round but the Government is absolutely determined to maintain its focus on the domestic agenda, both within the Dáil and in terms of policies and the implementation of them. Already, we are working on the budget and we have had a number of preliminary meetings, which is earlier than normal, because of the Presidency and we have to reorganise our schedules and so on. The Presidency simply means a heavier workload all round. We have obligations to deliver not just a strong, competent and efficient Presidency but one that leaves an impact for the better for the European Union and for our own citizens as well. Deputy Ó Cearúil raised the issue of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. I wrote to the President of the EU Council some weeks ago asking that he would put this issue on the agenda for this week, on Thursday and Friday, in respect of the need to respond to the Israeli waging of war on Lebanon and the continued subjugation of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and that Europe simply has to respond. I followed up on that issue - that the Council simply has to respond - during my meeting with Kaja Kallas, the high representative, when she visited late last week. The issue is whether we can secure a majority to support a suspension, if not of the entire agreement, at least of elements of the agreement and that is proving challenging. In my view, a vote should be held at some stage and the issue should be put to a vote, either at the Foreign Affairs Council, FAC, or at a future Council meeting. I would make the point, and other questions were raised on this, that Europe remains the largest donor to Palestine of any entity across the world, and to Palestinians more generally. It remains the largest donor to the Palestinian Authority, by significantly more than its neighbours. Yes, there are issues in terms of the inability of Europe to develop a consensus on Israeli atrocities in Gaza but Europe has been to the forefront in providing a continued range of supports. There has been a lack of access to Gaza. It is quite extraordinary that international authorities and powers, bar the UN and others, have not been allowed into Gaza and that the international media has not been allowed into Gaza to witness the horrors that have unfolded. That is something I have been consistently pushing for. Deputy Boyd Barrett also raised this issue and I reassert that point. There are positives to the European contribution to Palestine as well, which we should not lose sight of. For example, it is arguable that without the European Union, the Palestinian Authority would be in even greater difficulty because Israel has withheld all revenues that are legitimately owed to the Palestinian Authority, which is impairing its capacity to deliver services in the West Bank. There is a greater encroachment in the West Bank, which needs very urgent attention from the international community because it will render non-viable, if it continues, the prospect of a two-state solution. I think we have to be careful of the words "complicit in genocide". It is a wonderful slogan to articulate but I think it is unfair.
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Some countries support Israel but not all do. Many EU member states do not, and that number is increasing. We just need to keep working. The pressure has to be on Israel, not on Ireland and not on other governments that are doing everything they can to put the pressure on Israel.
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It is just a fair point. I have made this point repeatedly.
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On a separate question, Deputy Murphy raised the issue of autonomy. It is kind of a paradoxical proposition he put to me, because he said we have the lowest level of local autonomy and at the same time is asking me to intervene in what councils are doing.
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There are various frameworks. We cannot have it both ways and we tend to have it both ways. We just had a debate this afternoon on derelict sites and all of that and everybody was saying it is all our fault. You cannot have it both ways and then say, in respect of this, that we should intervene and essentially take over the powers of local authority executives, or indeed councillors, for that reason.
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I do not have the specifics of it but-----
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No.
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No, but you want me to intervene.
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I will speak through the Chair.
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Deputy Ó Murchú also raised the EU-Israel Association Agreement and the occupied territories BiIl. Again, I did get it on the agenda of the European Council meeting this week. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, also has raised it repeatedly at FAC, and we will continue to do that. In terms of Deputy Quaide-----
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Sorry?
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All right. Deputy Quaide referred to 500 Ukrainians. Have they received notice? I will talk to the Minister in respect of that. There is a significant number there and, obviously, the impacts for the children will be significant. I will revert to the Deputy. As Deputy Quaide acknowledged in the question, there are issues in terms of commercial premises, the costs involved and the sustainability of all of that. Transition is important, particularly in terms of children attending schools. That has to be handled with care. Deputy Ward raised the issue of nitrous oxide and the regulation of it. I will speak to the Minister. Obviously, the transposition of the EU directive is under way. We are continuously transposing EU directives. This is a significant issue and it does need regulation. To respond to Deputy Tóibín, the Government put out a tender. We can involve a member state of the European Union in joint procurement to accelerate the procurement of needed defence capability. In this case, it was radar and sonar in particular, which are urgent. In my view, it is a significant deficiency that we do not have radar. The entire motivation, while respecting all of the laws governing procurement - and, by the way, it has taken quite a number of years to get to this point - is that we do have capacity to do this with people and to do it in a way that can accelerate the process so that we have capability.
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Interoperability is a long-standing principle. If we operate in places like Lebanon on peacekeeping missions, we require interoperability. Currently in Lebanon, we are with Polish troops in IRISHPOLBATT, some Hungarian troops and some Maltese who train in Ireland. Our roles, as Deputy Tóibín knows, are always peacekeeping, peace monitoring, civilian support and so on like that. I do not see any conspiracies.
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Deputy Coppinger asked a philosophical question. She could have asked it a century ago as to whether there should be a millionaire. Of course, a lot of this trillionaire stuff is on paper. America has its system and Ireland has its system. We have a fairly progressive taxation system in Ireland where the highest paid by a long shot - the top 5% - pay nearly 50% of all income tax. I can check that but it is roughly where we are. We have a very progressive tax system here. I do believe in a progressive tax system. It is arguable that it could be too high at some levels and we do need entrepreneurship, individual innovation and to incentivise people in life as well, but we need a strong collective underpinning that in terms of our social protection system and a lot of State intervention in our society and in our economy. Ireland is not America in that respect. America has a different ethos and always had. There has always been a debate in the United States between big government versus less big government. People are entitled to have that debate in different societies and to vote accordingly. Just as they look askance at some of our practices, we look askance at some of theirs, to put it mildly.
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We do not have any trillionaire.
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I am not being facetious but what Deputy Coppinger is asking is whether someone should take all of the wealth at some stage. We have a different view of the creation of wealth and so on. I was at an event recently honouring Chuck Feeney. He got rid of all of his wealth in an altruistic and philanthropic approach. He made it his aim to get rid of all his wealth before he died. Ireland's universities benefited from this, as did many charities.
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It is a bit more complex than we have time to discuss.
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Deputy Roderic O'Gorman spoke about Bosnia-Herzegovina and its succession path to the European Union is a bit more complex than others. There are challenges within Bosnia-Herzegovina, particularly Republika Srpska in terms of how it is operating. We will work with it to try to progress the application. Deputy Shane Moynihan spoke about competitiveness. A roadmap has been agreed between the Council, the Parliament and the Commission on the competitiveness roadmap, which gives us a lot of work to get done and the files are there. We think we can get a lot done on the savings and investment union, the establishment of the 28th regime for SMEs, the industrial accelerator Act, simplification of regulation, deepening of the Single Market and the grids package. There is a hell of lot there in the competitiveness agenda that we need to develop. Deputy Shay Brennan spoke about the multi-annual financial framework. This will be very complex. The Cypriots have come up with a negotiating box, which is the first real concrete attempt to try to put figures on the general orientation of the budget. It is our job now to look at this and take soundings, and it will be our job to produce a negotiating box, which we will do, for the October meeting. Then the President, Antonio Costa, and ourselves will have to assess whether we can get it over the line by December. A lot of people want us to get the budget done by December but there are competing demands. People want a defence component in it because there are 5% deficits on the eastern flank, with Finland, Poland and all of these countries. There are big deficits now because of trying to defend themselves and have defence capability against Russia. Meanwhile, people want to have a stronger competitiveness fund or have a stronger Common Agricultural Policy, which we do. People want much more for less and there is great difficulty getting own resources on top of the GNI approach to providing revenue to the European Union. It is worth remembering that the budget is about 1% of European GDP. It is not a huge amount in the overall total. There is a lot of debate to happen. Some want us to borrow. The French are strong advocates of that while Germany is very clear that it does not want any more collective borrowing, as we had during Covid. It is a lot of work. We want to land this before the end of the year.
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for his latitude.
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I apologise. I have been raising Sudan consistently at European Union meetings. It is shocking and horrific and it has not got the same international attention or profile as other wars have. The level of human displacement in Sudan is quite shocking. I have called on some of the neighbouring states that are arming the different belligerents to stop because there is too much external manipulation of Sudan, too much external interference and too much provision of weaponry to the different elements on the Government side and the rebel side. The people are suffering. There is a virtual genocide happening there as well in terms of the level of killing. We need to stop wars in this world and stop conflict. The world leadership needs to get together because it is creating new norms that are robbing people of any concept of human dignity and the importance of every single life. It is awful what is happening in Sudan and I appreciate the fact that Deputy Farrell has raised it.
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 24 to 43, inclusive, together. The Government published our new national digital and AI strategy, a commitment in the programme for Government, in February. Digital Ireland – Connecting our People, Securing our Future sets out the Government's ambition to 2030 to strengthen Ireland's position as a digital leader and a global hub for applied AI innovation. Through Digital Ireland, we are building on our strengths, our well-established reputation as a digital hub, an exceptional talent base and a vibrant innovation ecosystem to ensure our economy reaps the benefit of digital and AI for growth and competitiveness, to enhance public service delivery and to empower our people to thrive in a digital society. The strategy sets out 20 high-level objectives and 90 specific deliverables, reflecting the breadth of ambition across Government on public service delivery, enterprise, infrastructure, cybersecurity, digital regulation, online safety and skills and talent. It outlines five strategic mutually reinforcing ambitions - apply, grow, invest, lead and empower - reflecting the agile approach needed to succeed in a fast-evolving digital world. Included in it are applying digital and AI technologies to enhance how we deliver our public services and drive responsible AI adoption across the public sector; growing our digital economy and competitiveness and strengthening our profile as a location for investment in a global hub for applied AI; investing in secure and resilient future-proofed digital infrastructure, including building our cybersecurity capacity; leading as a trusted, agile and forward-looking digital regulatory hub and centre of excellence; empowering our people, workers and businesses to thrive in a digital economy and society through responsive and inclusive digital and AI skills and literacy opportunities; and enhancing our online safety framework at national and EU levels to protect vulnerable cohorts, in particular children and young people. We will continue to be a strong voice in Europe for a digital economy that supports competitiveness and innovation while protecting data privacy and fundamental rights. This includes continuing to advocate for an ambitious and dynamic approach to digital simplification. Digital Ireland reiterates our commitment to strengthening Ireland's position as an EU centre of excellence and digital regulatory hub and to ensuring a modern, cohesive and well-resourced regulatory framework that is responsive to the evolving digital age. We are mindful that technological advances such as AI will, inevitably, bring labour market disruption. The strategy includes a range of measures to support all workers, in the public and private sectors, to navigate and mitigate the impact of potential job displacement, including through responsive and accessible skills supports. I recently proposed that the Government, trade unions and employers establish a forum under the Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF, to explore specifically the impacts of AI and wider digital change on the workplace in more detail. The updated strategy was developed through extensive cross-Government and stakeholder consultation, and regular stakeholder engagement will be a central feature of its delivery. I will read the rest but will first allow others to come in.
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I thank all of the Deputies who raised various issues. I think the common denominator among all the contributions is the issue of protecting children, in particular, from the very harmful effects of social media. I understand and share parents’ concerns about the damage being done to children by social media. It was not today or yesterday that I described it as "the public health [challenge] of our time".
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It was actually over two years ago when I made that very point at our own Ard-Fheis in terms of the challenges. There is no question that it is harming cognitive development and making many children’s lives much more challenging, difficult and, in some cases, miserable. It can facilitate bullying and much worse. It is ruining childhoods for too many children, so action needs to be taken. I respect Deputy Malcolm Byrne’s right to be agnostic on some solutions, but we have to work on a number of fronts. I can recall the case with other addictive substances, such as tobacco. People always said that if we banned it, or banned the pack of ten, people would find a way around it. Kids used to get single cigarettes at the time we banned it. We just made it harder. It does not mean there is complete compliance or complete coverage, but at least we are making it more restrictive and denormalising what has now become normal. I suggest there is an incremental series of steps that we have to take in respect of this. Our preference is for an EU-wide approach. I attended a meeting recently hosted by President Macron on the banning of social media for under-15s and under-16s. The European Commission, with President von der Leyen, is bringing forward proposals in respect of this quite shortly. Commissioner McGrath, whom I met on Friday, said this to me as well. An EU-wide approach basically means taking on the platforms and saying to the platforms that they are preventing access. That would be more straightforward for the platforms to implement. It would avoid gaps in application and enforcement for regulators. An EU-wide approach to digital services, because they are provided across borders, would be a more effective way of doing this. I was taken by the Oireachtas committee’s report. It was well researched, to be fair. I accept we do need to debate this. The precise mechanisms by which access to these platforms would be prohibited need to be worked out. I also accept what Deputy Malcolm Byrne has said about the views of children and young people being ascertained. We have a history of doing that, in fairness – even before the Department of children was established. I remember the idea that one would consult children and young people being laughed at in the early 2000s. Now it is the norm. Regarding child poverty last year, we convened a group of young people to consult on the relevant issues. We do it across the board, and there is no reason we should not do it for AI. I will come back to Deputy Ó Cearúil on his question on specific times and actions. The more important thing is to get the substantive stuff done. What is interesting is that, in some of the economic appraisals, Ireland is doing quite well in attracting investment because of AI and the levels of skills within the country already. We have to look at this as both a challenge and an opportunity. Sometimes too much of the debate can be on the challenge side of it, with not enough on the opportunity. I will come back to the matter. Deputy McGreehan is spot on in terms of the skills issue. Skillnet will have a major role. One of the issues we will discuss with the social partners, and which we have encountered in recent times, relates to our having used some of the fund for skills, the National Training Fund, for universities and so on. There is an argument that we should try to ring-fence some of that fund for AI skills training. There will have to be a massive nationwide programme on upskilling because the focus should be on redeployment. There are opportunities within the public sector in terms of changing the nature of work, and new opportunities to redeploy and maybe achieve more effective outcomes as a result. Training is going to be key, and we will consider front-loading funding in respect of that issue. Deputy Ó Murchú also raised Skillnet, the under-16s and the addictive algorithms. These are the issues that I understand the European Commission will be addressing. I would make the point, however, that last year we brought in a restriction in schools concerning the utilisation of smartphones, and the Deputies opposite lampooned and attacked it.
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There was not a better way of doing it. Deputy Tóibín was at it as well.
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Through the Chair, we need to be consistent on this. It worked.
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It was impactful and it was a start in getting young people out of utilisation. By the way, all of the Deputies should leave their phones outside the Dáil. Let us start here. We are talking about the pervasive impact. All of the Deputies have mobile phones.
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They do not concentrate on the job at hand.
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The Deputy just pressed it now again.
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Deputy Connolly raised the issue of the importance of having children and young people involved. I agree with that. Deputy Paul Murphy and Deputy Connolly raised the issue of what happens at 15 or 16. The education piece is very important, but it is the scale and the overwhelming nature of social media that seem to me to be quite different from the scale associated with earlier restrictive practices like censorship of books or other material in the past. Access to social media is universal; that is the problem. In previous eras, we endeavoured to educate for these reasons. As with most issues, it is a combination of education, prevention and restrictive laws at the same time. We have never had a laissez-faire approach to any issue that could potentially damage children and young people, so we cannot have the same laissez-faire attitude to social media either. However, I take the point that the mechanisms by which we achieve this are important and are still up for debate. The Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Services, Reform and Digitalisation, Deputy Jack Chambers, is working on this with the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Deputy Patrick O’Donovan, as well, because the former of the two has responsibility for the implementation of the EU digital wallet, which is a factor in age verification. There are thorny issues around that as well, which I expect Deputies will come to us on. It is about holding platforms to account over the material they are providing. I believe I have answered some of what Deputy Paul Murphy said. It is about what people can and should not have access to, and the companies have to respond. That is why an EU approach would be the optimal one. We will act ourselves, obviously, if we do not have that, but we already have significant laws in place. However, this is moving it on. It is interesting that the UK has made announcements. We will examine the Australian model and so forth. On the AI strategy, Deputy Hayes said jobs were not mentioned. Jobs are critical. I did mention jobs but the point the Deputy is making is that people were laid off in Covalen. We have to be careful, too. Some companies are saying jobs are being lost because of AI but we must ask whether this is the cause in all cases. In other words, is it the application of AI that is causing job losses in some instances or is it decisions to invest hugely in AI and then look for resources elsewhere within an organisation or a company? It could be a bit of both. It is surprising that many of the workers are under the two-year mark. At best, that suggests fairly poor human resource planning. We have labour law here and workers have rights and entitlements. We will again work on the situation raised. I am not familiar with the specifics but I believe there are labour laws governing some aspects. The company should meet the union and engage with it on this. I discussed most of the issues Deputy Tóibín raised. I would not say we are too uncritical of AI. We are not, but I made a point earlier that it is about challenges and opportunities. We have to look at the opportunities as well as the challenges, and also the reality. The Deputy might not like AI, but for me it has many potential benefits-----
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-----particularly in health diagnostics, in terms of what it can do in disease prevention or understanding pathways in getting to develop medicines and interventions that could accelerate really better treatments for people in a whole range of areas. Therefore, there are opportunities. I visited Analog last week, and it is very clear to me that it is already looking towards the next era, when sensors and semiconductors will be engaging with AI. Essentially, it is going to be quite dramatic. We can either watch and bemoan the emergence of AI or we can seek to be ahead of the posse because we have to be competitive and have to protect and create jobs for people. It is probably a bit early to refer to the observatory on AI business readiness, but I will ask the relevant Minister, Deputy Burke, to respond to the Deputy on it. We have to evaluate measures we have implemented to determine what is happening. I appreciate the point the Deputy is making but business adoption is a key part of the strategy.
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