International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-18
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Gary Gannon (SD), Dublin Central

The Minister is more familiar than I am with the legal principle of non-regression. Given the absence of a definition and the Minister's commitment to bring in another amendment, it will probably be the case that legal advice in person will no longer be available in the first instance. We can probably all take it at this point that this is where the Bill is going. The Minister might confirm that for me.
He might then go further and confirm whether chatbots and AI are now on the table. Shamim Malekmian in the Dublin Inquirer has reported on a freedom of information response from the Department of justice and the Legal Aid Board. This was in the Dublin Inquirer a couple of weeks ago and very clearly showed the potential for chatbots - I can send it on to the Minister - or some technological communications being on the table.
Will the Minister confirm that and whether we are going to be breaking the principle of non-regression?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-18