I thank the Minister of State for his response. He has provided us with pretty eye-watering figures. We know that to the end of 2022, simply for response and recovery, the State has had to spend €89.7 million. In addition, as part of the service plan to upgrade the systems, we are looking at the spending of almost €55 million. It has not stopped yet. As the Minister of State indicated, the work continues. For instance, he mentioned Windows 7 is still being operated on a number of devices, when Microsoft stopped rep…

I too would like to welcome the students to the Chamber. I hope they enjoy their day in Leinster House and experiencing our democracy. I wish to speak about two primary schools I visited in County Wexford recently, which show how the diversity of our school population has changed. I visited Kilrane National School near Rosslare Europort. I was brought around by the excellent principal Tom Cousins. The school has taken in more than 50 Ukrainian students over the last year because of its proximity to Rosslare. They h…

I thank the Commissioner for being here today and also for her service. I would like to follow on from Senator Chambers's comments and refer to some of the Commissioner's remarks about the future. Along with many of my colleagues, I believe that the EU Artificial Intelligence Act will perhaps be the most important piece of legislation this decade. Specifically within the Commissioner's brief, there are obviously major opportunities regarding being able to improve efficiency and to reduce costs. However, equally, th…

I echo Senator Wall's remarks, and equally those of Senator O'Loughlin concerning the foster allowance. I would like that we would also invite the Minister of State at the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth with responsibility for disability, Deputy Anne Rabbitte, to address the question of disparity in pay which exists between section 38 and 39 organisations. The Leader will be aware that for the provision of disability services in particular, we rely around the country on voluntar…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I would also like to welcome members of the research community who are present. There is an enormous interest in this issue amoung the research community in Ireland, particularly those who are engaged with physics but also I think more widely because of the importance of investment in science and Ireland's participation in multilateral organisations across this area. It is also important, for those from CERN who are watching us today from Geneva, that the message goes out from thi…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. She will be aware the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science was not created to be just an administrative Department for universities and places of further and higher education, but rather to prepare Ireland for the technological revolution we are experiencing. A student who is due to sit his or her leaving certificate next month is more than likely to be in the world of work until the year 2070. If we reflect on the 1970s, we can see how rapi…

I am glad Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, is taking a very proactive approach in this area, but AI will transform virtually every aspect of our life and work and various forms of automation will transform a wide range of professions. The Government needs to lead the public debate on this within the education space and broader society and, indeed, in many cases to be positive. The idea of a select committee within these Houses on artificial intelligence, emerging technologies and their potential impact coul…

I too welcome our guests. It is very important that they get to see democracy in action here. The Deputy Leader will be aware that 9 May, which is next week, is Europe Day. We are celebrating 50 years of Ireland's membership of the European Union. Our EU membership has transformed this country socially and economically. We can all be very proud to say that we are both Irish and European. One of the most successful programmes in recent years has been the DiscoverEU programme, which every year allows approximately 30…

Yes.

Like the Cathaoirleach and others, I welcome our guests. I thank the ambassador for his service and, indeed, the solidarity and friendship the Netherlands has shown between our two countries. I also welcome the deployment of gardaí at railway stations, which is a positive move. It was part of Fianna Fáil transport policy that we would seek the deployment of gardaí at rail stations. It is certainly welcome for rail users. Tonight marks the opening of the RTÉ all-Ireland drama finals in Athlone, which is a wonderful …

-----or maybe Robert Watt is the modern Sir Humphrey-----

-----but what we need in terms of this digital archipelago is a digital czar at Government level to bring all this together. I ask again for a debate-----

-----on how the Government responds to emerging technologies like nanotechnology, biotechnology and artificial intelligence. I appeal for a debate on how the State is responding in these sectors.

We know we are writing all of Fine Gael's policies, but we cannot do everything-----

She will need Senator Gallagher's help.

I thank Senator Dooley for allowing me to contribute at this time. I also welcome our guests. In this country, we take for granted media freedom and the right to peaceful protest. When our guests were coming in through the gates of Leinster House today, a peaceful protest was taking place outside. Unfortunately, in Hong Kong that is not the case. Because of the use of the national security law by the Chinese Communist Party, Jimmy Lai and many others have been jailed simply for expressing their opinion. Jimmy Lai i…

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this matter. I welcome from the National College of Ireland, Ms Gina Quin, president, and Dr. Deirdre Giblin who are here for this issue. I appreciate the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, is taking this on behalf of another Department. However, as a former education spokesperson, he is familiar with the work of the National College of Ireland, NCI. It was founded in 1951 and at present has 6,500 students. It has a strong commitment to the access agenda in Ireland. On access t…

I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate he is taking this matter on behalf of another Department. However, it is almost a case of “tell me something that we do not know” because this is very clearly what is laid out within the legislation. What I am asking, and I would ask the Minister of State to take it back to the Minister, Deputy Harris, is that we need to know the timeline for when this will happen. We know what needs to happen. We know that the Minister is committed to it but in that answer, we do not hav…

I raise the case of Vladimir Kara-Murza. He is a politician and journalist based in Russia and an opponent of Vladimir Putin. He has now been jailed for 25 years simply for speaking out against Putin's regime, pointing out the folly of his war and identifying what is going on in Russia. We are very fortunate in this country. We may have plenty of reasons to disagree with Government, but we have the right to protest and to free speech. We know we can do it without risk of being placed in prison. There are many peopl…

I appreciate that, but I am tired of us not standing up to racism and xenophobia and her comments were totally unacceptable. I made the point that in my party, and I am quite certain in the Deputy Leader's party or any other party, action would be taken against a member for that.