I do not intend to speak at any length on amendments Nos. 100 and 125 on the basis that the purpose of Report Stage is to report on Committee Stage, and not simply to repeat the arguments of the previous Stage of the Bill. I believe that brevity is a virtue. I acknowledge the extensive discussions we have had with the Minister's officials on this but, on amendment No. 125 in particular, I believe it will have to be the case with this legislation that we keep it under constant review. Fears remain about social media…

I second the amendment.

I move amendment No. 125: In page 87, between lines 32 and 33, to insert the following: “(2) Where an offence under any of the relevant statutory provisions has been committed by an undertaking and the doing of the acts that constituted the offence has been authorised, or consented to by, or is attributable to connivance or neglect on the part of, a person, being a director, manager or other similar officer of the undertaking, or a person who purports to act in any such capacity, that person as well as the undertak…

Now.

Brevity is a virtue.

Brevity can be relative. I am conscious that we, along with the Minister, have spent more than 30 hours in this Chamber-----

-----debating this. Extensive work was done by members of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media, and I am grateful for Senator O'Reilly's comments. I am talking about Senators Cassells, Carrigy and Warfield, who is not here with us. I sincerely thank the Minister's officials, who must be exhausted, and the Minister herself. A lot of work has gone into this but it is really important legislation and possibly the most critical we will enact during the course of this Oireachtas. We look forwar…

-----the report of the Future of Media Commission. We anticipate and look forward to a full debate on that report. I again sincerely thank the Minister and the team at the Department for their co-operation and work in this regard.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach and I thank the Minister of State for coming into the Chamber to speak on this issue in which I know he has a deep personal interest and passion. As we know, artificial intelligence and machine learning are transformative technologies and are about solving very complex issues. We are already seeing it happening in everything from legal contracts being checked to identifying pieces of music or of birdsong, and it is being used in drone and machine delivery of food. E…

I thank the Minister of State for that comprehensive answer. I certainly welcome many of the moves. The engagement with Comhairle na nÓg and with young people will be particularly welcomed. It is important it would be as inclusive as possible to ensure young people understand AI and avail of its opportunities. This is a challenge for wider society. It will transform all of our lives. For anybody involved in driving or delivery of goods or persons, there is a risk a significant element of their tasks will be replace…

I agree with Senator Carrigy about his concerns with regard to the Irish Athletic Boxing Association. There are serious questions to be answered around governance in the IABA. I am aware the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, is meeting with them this week. The people who I am worried about are the volunteers in the clubs on the ground and the athletes. There are particularly serious issues. There is an extraordinary general meeting this week but the organisation needs to sort out its governance issues. I welcome …

On a point of order-----

In fairness to the Minister, he has made himself available. While I have great respect for Senator Norris, there has been extensive consultation in respect of this legislation with the higher education institutions, the Irish Universities Association, Trinity College and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education. The Minister and his officials have made themselves available to discuss any of the issues that are raised in the House.

I do not know who Senator Norris is speaking to but everyone knows there has long been demand for reform of the higher education system. With respect to colleagues, the Act dates from 1971. We are dealing with the higher education system of 2022 and into the future, not that of 1971 or, with respect, 1592. This is not a question in respect of the academic autonomy of institutions. These are questions relating to governance, particularly with regard to financial accountability. It is important that is the case. We h…

What has been said is not fair on the Minister or the Deputy Leader because it is trying to misconstrue both of their positions. Senator McDowell is aware of the legislative pressure that exists. If less time was spent on procedural theatrics, both this morning and during this debate, and we actually got on to debating the amendments that are before us, then we could have real discussion. We are already 24 minutes into the debate, however, and we have not even dealt with the first amendment.

The current provision with regard to the authority is that essentially, the Minister, in his discretion, makes all the necessary appointments.

I appreciate that, although there are colleagues of Senator McDowell who say we should not be changing things that are 50 years, or 400 years, old, but I agree on the need for some of the changes.

I refer Senator Mullen to Senator Norris's earlier contribution. When the authority was established in 1971, the legislation effectively gave the Minister the power to make the appointments to the authority at the time. In fact there is no provision with specific regard to student representation. Part of the reason I know this is I was education officer with the USI in the year we achieved it. By the way, the Minister who made the first student appointment to the HEA was Micheál Martin. The tradition has been kept …

It is unusual that a number of Members on the Independent benches, who insist we do not guillotine legislation yet who constantly seem to wish to interrupt when anyone else wishes to speak, are interrupting. It is only a pity, given they are in the consultation process, that they did not engage as extensively as the Minister has done over the past four years. I would like to know, and we will soon find out on the record, the extent to which Senator Craughwell made representations during that time. What is key about…

There is a misrepresentation around this piece of legislation that it safeguards academic autonomy. This is not a piece of legislation that has anything to do with academic autonomy and there are specific safeguards built into legislation around this. This is to do with questions around governance and financial accountability.