It is sinister to not include services.

I back this group of amendments on the basis the Government promised the enactment of the occupied territories Bill during the election. That was nearly two years ago. It has dragged its heels on every element of this debate. I agree with Deputy Coppinger that despite the Government's self-appraisal of its response to Palestine, it has not been anywhere near up to scratch. I appreciate aid is an important part of the response. I acknowledge how strong we are in the provision of aid. We get the same message at EU le…

On behalf of the Social Democrats, I welcome this legislation as a measure that will alleviate some of the issues we discussed in committee and heard about from the postmaster community. Postal services are a vital lifeline for so many of us, particularly, as others have pointed out, in rural parts of Ireland. Despite this, many communities have lost their post office. The current model undermines the public interest when it comes to ensuring that everyone has access to postal services. Until we are employing postm…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this Bill. I commend the Bill and am happy to say that the Social Democrats will support it. We are happy to support it because we support a united Ireland and we support the constitutional change needed to facilitate bringing about that united Ireland. What this Bill does is provide for the work and dialogue that need to happen for constitutional change. Before I speak to the Bill itself, I will pick up on the comments by both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste in their contribut…

Despite Palestine fading somewhat from the headlines, the UN independent international commission of inquiry has found that Israel continues to commit genocide in Gaza by targeting children. All states have a positive duty to act to prevent and stop genocide, so what is the Department doing in reaction to this report and its findings?

I welcome the opportunity to speak today. Well done to the team involved on a very successful launch in Dublin Castle today. I genuinely wish the Government all the best in the EU Presidency. I know it is a big undertaking. However, I also urge it to listen to what is being said today from the Opposition benches. I believe there are a lot of insights that could be well used by Government during these coming six months. Being a proud European means being an active voice, and we in the Social Democrats are proud Euro…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 11, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following: “ “Service” means the Public Appointments Service;”. This first set of amendments speaks to the establishment of the board but first I wish to address the parliamentary scrutiny, or lack thereof, of this legislation, which is so disappointing. It is 11 calendar days since the text of this Bill was published. We have had four Dáil sitting days and seven working days to scrutinise this absolutely crucial Bill. Providing 11 calendar …

I have tabled a second amendment regarding the chief executive officer. It is clear on page 22 of the Bill, which states, "The Office shall have a chief executive officer". It talks about the Public Appointments Service recruiting the board, then states: (3) Notwithstanding subsection (2) , the Minister may, before the establishment day, designate a person to be the first Chief Executive Officer. (4) Where, immediately before the establishment day, a person stands designated by the Minister under subsection (3), th…

Deputy Ó Cearúil got a letter. I did not get a letter. I have received no engagement in this process. My issue is that the Minister of State is not listening. She is not understanding what we are trying to say, and that independence is key. All of the other market surveillance authorities she is mentioning, and the fundamental rights bodies identified through the AI Act and the legislation as part of the structure are all well and good, but the AI office is the authority. By this legislation, it is essentially a pa…

No, I will move to the next one.

I move amendment No. 2: In page 13, line 34, after “foster” to insert “ethical and responsible”. These are examples of constructive amendments. Amendment No. 2 seeks to bring in a balance where by adding the phrase “ethical and responsible” so that it changes the remit of the office from fostering AI innovation and literacy to fostering ethical and responsible AI innovation and literacy. That is an example of the kind of balance we are looking for and that we have lip service paid to all the time but that has never…

I just had a quick search through the legislation. It has the word "ethics" in it five times and the word "responsible" twice. That is in different contexts but the point is whether "ethical and responsible" is such a novel phrase. I do not think so. The response from the Minister of State, which was essentially "Computer says 'No'", does not stand up regarding the idea of including "ethical and responsible" when, as she can hear, there is plenty of support for such a phrase. It would introduce the balance we are s…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. I am always happy to speak to childcare because, particularly as someone who raised my daughter alone, I know how important childcare is for gender equality and for families across this country who are just gasping for it at this stage. The other issue that stands out from my own experience is that having paid for childcare in the early 2000s for my daughter, who was a millennial baby and is an adult woman now, I see that the crisis has not improved and has, in fa…

I have been working with this particular group of Covalen staff since January when the initial threats of redundancies were mooted. Since then, we have seen much larger redundancy numbers hitting this group. It has been an inspiring experience to work with them. They are a newly mobilised part of the workers' sector where tech and data workers are realising how precarious their jobs are right now in the context of artificial intelligence. Rather than going over what has already been discussed in the Chamber, I will…

I cannot think of a better description than "head in the sand" for the Government's response to AI and labour displacement. To tell us that labour is going to be augmented and not displaced because of AI is genuinely shocking to me. When I raise AI and labour displacement, this is what I get - we are focusing on reskilling and retraining, jobs are going to improve and we are going to have better jobs. There is no recognition of the massive transformation that is happening in society and there are no efforts to deal…

On behalf of the Social Democrats, I am very happy to speak to this issue today. I commend Deputy Charles Ward on the work he has done in bringing this motion to the floor of the Dáil and for his tireless work on this issue. We are very happy to co-sign this motion. I will also mention that my colleague, Deputy Rory Hearne, is unavailable today, which is why I am stepping in. He remains, as we do as a party, 100% committed to 100% redress and to communities, particularly along the west coast, so horrifically impact…

I wish a happy Pride to everybody, particularly those in the Gallery who are visiting today. I welcome everybody to the House. This month is a celebration of our queer community. I want to give a shout-out to my daughter Bella, one of my favourite members of the queer community, and maybe I can also mention Anna Nolan, one of my other favourite lesbians who is in the Gallery today. Pride is also about its origins, which was about calling out the systemic ways in which the LGBT community are marginalised. We have to…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an mBille seo. Tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach go mbeidh na dlíthe cuí againn chun dul i ngleic le AI agus go mbeimid réidh le déileáil leis an teicneolaíocht atá romhainn. On behalf of the Social Democrats, I welcome the Bill and the discussion on Second Stage on the regulation of AI, as provided for in the Bill. Before speaking more specifically, including on some of the amendments I have already submitted, I will comment more broadly on AI and how it is impacting on our society. That is the b…

It is sad that we find ourselves once again standing up and making statements about the Special Criminal Court without any of the issues that it raises having been advanced by this Government. My colleague, Deputy Gary Gannon, has just mentioned the Peart review. As a party, many of our positions would align more closely with the minority report of the Peart review. Essentially, what we have here is a parallel system within our criminal justice system where people can, technically, be tried for the same crime in di…

I congratulate the Minister of State. We need to cut through the AI hype. I talk a lot about artificial intelligence in this Chamber and at committee meetings. It is often about the policy of its use, its governance and so on, but it is absolutely vital that we also look at the infrastructure that props up this technology. Time and again, the conversations around regulation, energy and infrastructure are muddied by a lack of understanding of what AI is and the attempts of AI companies to associate energy-guzzling g…