I move amendment No. 4: After the tenth paragraph under “calls for:”, to insert the following paragraph: “- legislation prohibiting the use of AI technology within the State for, or the creation or distribution within the State of AI technology which enables, the generation or distribution of nude or pornographic imagery depicting any person real or imagined;”

I move amendment No. 5: In the eleventh paragraph under “calls for:”, to insert the following sub-paragraphs, after the second sub-paragraph: “- legislation providing for criminal and civil liability where any entity engaged in the provision of online services within the State fails to take all reasonable age verification measures to ensure that children under 18 are not exposed to pornographic imagery or sexualised deep-fake imagery; - legislation providing for criminal and civil liability where any entity engaged…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire agus guím gach rath air. Is duine cumasach é a bhfuil ardmheas agam air as an gcaoi a ndéanann sé a chuid oibre. Tréaslaím le mo chomhghleacaí agus cara, an Seanadóir Seán Kyne, as an dea-obair a rinne sé. Guím gach rath air agus é ag dul timpeall na Gaillimhe Thiar ag stocaireacht, idir Gaeilge agus Béarla. Go n-éirí go geal leis. Tréaslaím leis na heagraíochtaí éagsúla a ghríosaíonn chun oibre muid ar son leas na tíre, na Gaeilge agus lucht labhartha na Gaeilge. Déanfaidh mé tagairt do…

l do not think Mr. Hennessy needs any homework.

Correct.

The now five-month detention of Irishman Seamus Culleton in a Texan United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, facility will have come as a bucket of cold water to people who thought it was only people with criminal records who would be the targets of ICE. The fact that his situation is already being considered in a US courtroom makes clear that his detention is not an aberration. It is an expression of the new tough application of what were, in fact, long-standing rules. It seems that if there is to b…

I note what Senator Rabbitte and others had to say about Internet safety day. I want to welcome and endorse everything the Senator said. I listened to Alex Cooney of CyberSafeKids this morning who pointed out that more than half of children have no restriction on their online activity and 90% of eight to 12-year-olds are active online. I looked up the CyberSafeKids guide to parental controls. Of course it is good as far as it goes. CyberSafeKids and organisations like it are independent of big tech. However, I wond…

There is important work that needs to get funding from the State for St. Eunan's. They are a bit slow about coming up with the money in the Department.

We will return to that subject later.

We have come a long way in this country in tackling cruelty to animals but, sad to say, it seems we still have a journey to go. I spoke recently about how an NGO, namely the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, which in 2024 received about 96% of its funding from abroad, published a widely promoted know-your-rights guide on trans rights. It emerged that a major claim in its guide, regarding schools' obligation to use preferred pronouns, was transparently false. Indeed, its guidance on accessing toilets and changing f…

Last week, I spotted something in The Irish Times relating to a guide produced by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, ICCL, with support from the State's human rights watchdog, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC. Basically, it stated that schools must use the preferred name and pronouns of transgender students who should also be allowed to use the bathroom of their preferred gender. This is all in this guide on the rights of trans people. We all agree that, when it comes to schools, there shou…

Everyone is talking about Enoch Burke - there is a lot to criticise about the way he has gone about what he has done - but let us find out what is the law in this area and what kind of law and policy we want to have guiding schools when it comes to dealing with the problems of children with gender dysphoria and, indeed, the needs of their parents and families.

I wish to signal my strong support for this amendment. In particular, I point to the core wisdom in the proposed subsection (3) within the amendment, which is that if a matter is so serious that were it to be prosecuted by the State, the defendant or accused would be entitled to the protection of a trial by jury. That is what a trial by jury is; it is a form of protection. There is a reason why it is there as a right. If something that the State would seek to prosecute merits that level of protection, it seems that…

If I may contribute on this point, I understand that many of the claims made for this legislation were that it was addressing strategic lawsuits against public participation. I suppose there is an underlying desire to prevent the ability of companies to take defamation actions to impinge excessively on people's freedom to communicate ideas. However, is serious financial loss the only serious harm one can do to a body corporate that trades for profit? If I was a restaurant owner in Salthill and somebody in a local n…

I thought it was the Minister's commitment to have a full and free debate on this.

I appreciate the comprehensive and fluent nature of the Minister’s response. Everyone here understands that the meaning of something being in the public interest is not the same thing at all as something being of interest to the public. Do we rely on the courts? How can we be sure about the threshold that has to be met for something to be deemed to be in the public interest? We live in times where there is so much said in so many forums about all sorts of issues. Often, disproportionate time and attention are given…

I am talking about amendment No. 11, I think.

Yes. I will get to that.

I was referring to amendment No. 11.

I move amendment No. 12: In page 10, to delete lines 17 to 23. This amendment simply proposes the removal of subsection (3) of the proposed section 26, which proposes that where we are talking about an accurate and impartial account of a dispute to which the plaintiff in the defamation action is a party, the court shall, in determining whether it was reasonable to believe that publishing the statement was in the public interest, disregard any omission of the defendant to take steps to verify the truth of the imputa…