Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-09
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Lynn Ruane (IND), University of Dublin

It is gagged. People might not like the language sometimes when we take it out of diplomatic speech in saying somebody cannot come in front of a committee and speak or somebody cannot have an opinion on Government policy. When we frame it in political language, it does not land as hard. When we strip it away and call it what is it, which is "gagged", it causes a reaction. That is reaction is welcome. When we look and break down language, what it means and what underpins the language we use to make something not seem as bad as it is and we strip it away and use the raw word, then it evokes the real reaction and the response is that nobody is gagging or wants to gag anyone else. It is not the intent to gag, but we wrap it up in something else and pretend that is not what it is. We have the Secretary General of the Irish Prison Service who comes into the justice committee, who is not even independent of the Department. We have lots of other spaces where this happens and bodies come in.
It does gag. If we have a Department and a junior ministry as part of that Department and a committee cannot question the CEO of that body - and that is a committee that will have the most work to do in this country in relation to examining AI - that is effectively gagged. If they are not allowed to talk in a committee, they are not going to be allowed to talk on the news without a political line or a brief being given to them or being told, "This is the policy. If you go off the policy, then that is not in line." I am glad the Minister of State had a reaction to the word "gagged". When we take language and give it what it is, it has the intended purpose. If we silence people from criticising Government policy or attending a committee, that is effectively gagging for all intents and purposes from a political perspective.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:11+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-09