I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach and the Minister of State. I too acknowledge our Chair, Deputy Malcolm Byrne, and other colleagues on the joint Oireachtas AI committee. Before I continue, I will address some of the remarks made by Deputy Gibney because, while I believe they are sincerely held, I do not think they are a true, fair or accurate characterisation of the views of the members of the committee, whether in opposition or government. Deputy O'Rourke's contribution surmises that fact. In fairness, Deputy Gibney highlighted how we came together in the work of the committee which is somewhat contradictory to saying that there is a binary position between Government and Opposition. Ultimately, we are a mature democracy and I am proud of the fact that Ireland is a strong member of the European Union and we will have an opportunity to shape the AI Act. There was an effort to conflate the omnibus Bill, which is efforts in relation to innovation, and the protection against harm in the deployment of AI by mentioning Grok and everything related to it. The reality is that, when Coimisiún na Meán came before the joint Oireachtas AI committee last week, it supported the recommendation of the national AI council that we should expand the AI Act at an EU level to prohibit any system that could be deployed for the purposes of providing non-consensual adult images or child sex abuse material. I have to say it shocks me that this does not already form part of the legislation, but we are where we are, as they say. I am pleased that the Minister of State, in her speech today, has made clear that Ireland is also going to support this, along with other member states, and that this is something we can drive forward in the Presidency. That will be a great legacy. We can do this at the same time as showcasing an AI summit, which the Minister of State has highlighted. Again, this is an issue that came before our joint Oireachtas committee and there were early calls for it, including from me. The establishment of the joint Oireachtas AI committee last year marked an important moment. It was a recognition that technologies had the potential to reform our economy, our society and people's everyday lives. When I joined the committee, AI was something I saw almost incessantly in the media, a technology that would deliver either utopia or the apocalypse. Many commentators also argued that the wave of these new technologies would sweep aside economies, institutions and societies - the world as we know it - and that there was nothing states could do about it. I was sceptical of this narrative then and I still am now. The state will play a central role in the future of this technology and in how quickly it is developed, how widely it is adopted and how stringently it is regulated. Given that our leaders thought AI warranted an entire joint Oireachtas committee, I knew that preparing Ireland for this new future was being taken seriously at the highest levels of Government. That is why the work of the joint Oireachtas committee is so important, and why the publication of this first interim report is a good opportunity to reflect on where we are going. The report contains a number of recommendations. This evening's debate coincides well with the recently published national, digital and AI strategy, a strategy published by the Department of the Taoiseach, which is a roadmap of where Ireland is going. It contains 90 deliverables across a wide number of Departments and agencies. These involve the digitalisation and integration of AI into our public services, the adoption of Al across enterprise, our regulatory framework and preparing for the future of work. The committee’s report considers each of these areas, with a particular focus on regulation. Regulating AI is obviously essential and important for the committee to consider carefully, given our adoption of the EU’s Al Act, which adopts a risk-based and rights-centric approach that is an example for other legislatures to follow. The report focuses less on the impact that Al might have on enterprises and jobs across the country. That is why our broader enterprise and innovation environment, along with how Al might affect our labour market, are subjects I look forward to considering in more depth over the coming year on the committee. Our EU Presidency, of course, presents a unique chance for Ireland to lead on each of these three themes: regulation, innovation and the future of work at a European level. This is a chance the Government must grab with both hands. When it comes to regulation, with the Presidency fast approaching, it is clear that regulation of Al systems will be a central focus. As I mentioned, Coimisiún na Meán has already made recommendations regarding how we can expand the AI Act. However, there is more we can do. We can press for changes at the EU level during our Presidency. We should push for the EU to prohibit under the Al Act the deployment of Al systems for producing intimate imagery of real people without their consent or that might be used to produce child sex abuse material. As I said, it is surprising that this has not already been done. People on all sides of this House agree on the need to strongly regulate technologies that put our children and everyone else at risk, and will support the Government in its efforts. There is much we can do at a domestic level not only to protect people, but to see that the country as a whole benefits from the opportunities that these technologies present in the fields of medicine, financial services, energy, pharmaceuticals, and research and development. To realise the potential of these technologies, there are things beyond regulation we must consider. As regards the skills gap, the national Al and digital strategy contains several initiatives intended to equip our country for the new world of work. It commits to a roadmap for technology skills of the future, a new national skills observatory to monitor labour market dynamics, a one-stop-shop Al skilling platform and more. The most important thing here is that these initiatives be up and moving as quickly as possible. There is already progress being made in the Department of further and higher education in this respect and there is exciting work going on in many of our universities already. The new Al strategy will provide clarity to all relevant arms of the State on the direction of travel, and organise a whole-of-government approach to preparing our workforce for an uncertain future. Last year, over 1,000 jobs a week were created, a record 2.83 million people were at work in the fourth quarter of last year, and almost 1 million jobs have been created since 2011. In other words, we are in a better place than most countries, but the risks we face are significant. The Department of Finance’s most recent quarterly economic report highlighted those risks. It said that Ireland was particularly exposed to Al, given the high concentration of employment in knowledge-intensive sectors like ICT, financial services, and research and development. Faced with such uncertainty, it is the job of policymakers to prepare for multiple scenarios. The goal of the Al strategy is to equip all our people, young and old, with the skills required to manage these potential disruptions. Exploring how Al might reshape our labour market, impact the future prospects of our young people and the skills we need to equip our workers with will therefore be a crucial element of the joint Oireachtas committee’s work. This is intimately related to the final theme of my remarks, namely, the environment we need for our well-equipped workforce to participate in Al innovation, adoption and scaling. Skills are a necessary but not sufficient condition for Ireland’s economy to flourish in the new, digital future. The foundations of our enterprise model also need to change. Our highly skilled workforce and Irish companies need to confidently take the risk and access the capital required to take risks, innovate and scale. The good news is that we have introduced bold measures in the past that have attracted cutting-edge, high-value industries to Ireland. Changes to our corporation tax system, as well as initiatives to educate our population, led to technology and pharmaceutical companies locating in Ireland. The fruits of this are evident in the hundreds of thousands of people they employ. Google, for example, first employed only five people in Ireland when it set up operations here in 2003. It now employs over 5,000 people in Ireland. There are many examples just like this. Even now, OpenAl plans to double its headcount in Ireland. We are clearly at the races for attracting future investment. However, attracting FDI is only part of the equation. Given our base of talent, Al presents a real chance for new, Irish-led companies to emerge, scale and export. The need for indigenous companies to scale and grow in Ireland has been crystallised by the disruption of our global trading system over the past year. However, our track record in creating the right conditions for Irish start-ups and scale-ups has not been as strong as our record on FDI. Great work is being done to encourage the development of tech start-ups, with the likes of Dogpatch Labs and the Guinness Enterprise Centre, but our Stock Exchange has seen something of an exodus. To conclude, with strong and clear regulation, by urgently addressing our future skills need and by introducing the targeted reforms necessary for Irish start-ups to scale, there is a clear path forward. Ireland can be a model for how good regulation of Al is compatible with a dynamic environment for businesses and workers. The joint Oireachtas Al committee will play an important role in scrutinising the Government’s progress in each of these areas, and I look forward to playing my role in that process.

Sentiment score: 0.21