Holly Cairns
Cork South-West · Social Democrats · Ireland
“At the end of the day, there are a few things that we know and a few things that we do not know. We know the commission of investigation found that it is highly likely there are babies buried on the grounds. We do not know why it made that recommendation. Why? Because the archives are sealed.”
“He now seems to be using that as an excuse for inaction, when what he should be doing is moving heaven and earth to find these children and 19 women who disappeared. Two weeks ago, the Taoiseach told me that Cork City Council should have placed a compulsory purchase order on the land.”
“It knows the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes said it was highly likely that burials had taken place on this land. It has all the evidence of abuse, suspicious deaths, disappeared women and children and likely burial, and the Taoiseach is telling us he is powerless to act because legislation his previous Government d…”
“I want to take up where we left off yesterday. When explaining why the Government was not going to buy Bessborough the Taoiseach said: Excavation without evidence of location is neither feasible nor lawful [because] Under the Institutional Burials Act 2022, the Government can only [start an excavation] where it is satisfied that burials h…”
“The decision by An Coimisiún Pleanála to grant planning permission for apartments at Bessborough is disgusting. This represents yet another failure, a betrayal by the State of the thousands of women and children who were incarcerated and abused there and of the 859 children and 19 women who remain unaccounted for and are presumed dead.”
“I take it from the Taoiseach's reply and his talk about respecting An Bord Pleanála's decision that the answer is that the Government will not be issuing a CPO for the land. The Taoiseach may correct me if I am wrong because I hope the Government is going to make moves to compulsorily purchase the land.”
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“Schools that need special classes, whether it is their first one or additional ones, need to be supported to open them and keep them open. The Department of education is responsible for realising the constitutional right to education every child in Ireland has. It cannot continue to foist responsibility onto individual schools or the National Council for Special Education. What is the plan? Will the Taoiseach reassure children, their parents and school communities that the Government recognises that bigger picture and will change the approach?”
“The average adult to child ratio in our primary school classes is far above the EU average. Large classes compound the needs of children and result in less one-to-one time for kids. It is clear it is time to focus more on the recruitment of teachers. Also central to this are special education teachers. Complex needs must be reintroduced into the criteria for SET allocation. The removal of this criterion was a step in the complete wrong direction and has put children, teachers and SNAs in an untenable position. Crucially, special classes must be central to this discussion. The future of many special classes was brought into question when these cuts were announced. This pause has not given parents and teachers the certainty they need.”
“Instead of once again reaching for a quick fix, is the Taoiseach going to deliver the structural reform that is needed? To do that, there first must be acknowledgement that the current approach has not worked, is not working and is not going to work going forward. I think we agree that the definition of the role of an SNA is too narrow, too restrictive and does not reflect reality. This needs to be acknowledged in the upcoming review and it needs to be fixed. Disability is not just physical and disability supports should not be allocated on such narrow grounds. We know children's needs are complex and that there needs to be a level of discretion baked into the system in order to provide children with the support they need. We also need to look at the bigger picture. This issue is part of a much deeper problem.”
“At the outset, a Cheann Comhairle, I want to express that our thoughts are with the families, friends and communities of the seven people who lost their lives on a road over the weekend. This Government claims that disability rights are a priority, but the Taoiseach's words on disability have not been matched by action. The Government has found €19 million to postpone the proposed cuts to SNAs, of course not before forcing exhausted parents to once again fight the State for the support their children are entitled to. If he has not yet done so, I encourage the Taoiseach to read Ciara Reilly's Substack articles on this issue. They are incredibly informative and they are from the perspective of a mum, a teacher and a tireless advocate. What everybody needs to know now is what is going to happen next.”
“The question that I am asking and, indeed, that Deputies have been asking him for the past 24 hours is this: what happens now? How long will this review take? Will the Taoiseach change the approach? Does he recognise that we need more SNAs? Will the focus be on that, rather than on looking at a spreadsheet and deciding who can be moved where? The Taoiseach knows how disruptive that is to a classroom. How long are children, families and schools going to be left in limbo?”
“The Taoiseach said it is a "bit much" to ask that question and I have to say I agree with him. I do not think we should have to ask that question but the reality is that the policy - the implementation of this - does not represent his words here today at all. Over time and incrementally, it has happened that the allocation of SNAs is based almost exclusively on physical needs and not other needs. That is the reality. Speak to the SNAs, the teachers, the principals and the families. I did not want to have to ask the Taoiseach that question but I had to ask him because he needs to put his policy where his mouth is. He recognises that there is a problem with this policy because it has been paused. It would not be paused if he did not recognise that.”
“Emotional regulation and sensory support is just as important as physical care needs. Children need to feel safe in school, to be regulated in order to learn, and SNAs are the ones who facilitate that. I will return to my original question: does the Taoiseach recognise that disability is not just physical? If so, why does the SNA policy ignore that? Will the Government scrap this policy and focus on what needs to be done?”
“Even with an increase in the overall number of SNAs, the reality is that we need more. Instead of doing what needs to be done to achieve that, and instead of improving pay and conditions, professionalising their role and including more secondary care needs in their contracts, the Government has reduced this essential support to numbers on a spreadsheet. It has completely missed the point. When I spoke this morning to an SNA, Samantha O'Flanagan, she put it better than I could. She wants to know this: When a child won’t come up the stairs because of anxiety, when they run out of the classroom because they are dysregulated and overwhelmed, when they sit in a corridor crying because they are so emotionally distressed, what is the teacher meant to do?! What are the up to 27 other children meant to do? This is the reality in schools.”
“The schools that were told they are losing SNAs, like Belgooly National School in my constituency, have no idea if those cuts are still happening. Schools that were told they are being allocated additional SNAs do not know if these increases are going ahead. Children, SNAs, parents and principals are all in limbo. All they know is that there will now be a review into the original review. Nobody knows how long this second review will take or what the criteria for it will be. The criteria are key. An SNA's work is not an optional extra. They do extraordinary and essential work, helping children with their medical needs and helping them through anxiety and through painful transitions and tough and difficult moments. Without SNAs, children would be excluded.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I want to talk to the Taoiseach about this SNA fiasco. I will get straight to the point. This Government seems to think disability is almost exclusively physical. It is 2026 and that is akin to saying mental health is not a thing. I should not have to explain this but children being able to communicate, regulate and participate is just as important as their physical needs. My first question is this: does the Taoiseach recognise that? I think this is something he cares about so I will presume he does recognise it. Why does this policy on SNAs ignore that? Yesterday, thanks to public pressure from parents and school communities, the review of SNA allocations was paused. Where are we today?”
“There will be a massive delay in this extension happening no matter what and the Government now needs to at least take responsibility for that and admit it was the Government's strategy that misled An Coimisiún Pleanála into making this decision. That is the very least the Government could do when the delay is considered. At the moment - I do not know how to emphasise this enough - there are 22 postnatal women sharing one bathroom. There is one bathroom between 22 women who have just given birth. All of those intensive care units for tiny premature babies are jammed into a room. There is not room for the two parents to go into see their baby at one time. This will go on even longer because the Government did not inform An Coimisiún Pleanála that the plan to colocate has changed.”
“The Taoiseach says colocation between the Rotunda and the Mater is there in essence. Yes, I agree with him and everyone can see that. The problem the Taoiseach is talking around is that it is not there in reality in the Government's maternity strategy and An Coimisiún Pleanála brought that into its decision-making process. Part of the reason it gave when balancing it with the cultural heritage of the area was that this was not the long-term plan. However, the long-term plan has changed. The Government failed to acknowledge that, even five months ago when the appeal was put in. The Minister came out on the radio this morning and basically clarified that situation five months later. Now, the decision has been made.”
“Listening to the Minister for Health this morning and visiting the hospital yesterday, it is clear that is not the case any more. This decision, as well as being completely mad, it is partially based on outdated information. We all agree that co-location is best practice for any maternity hospital, but it is abundantly clear to everyone that the Rotunda is not going to be co-located with Connolly. It already works alongside the Mater and that relationship should be formalised in the upcoming national maternity strategy. Will the Taoiseach now confirm that plans to co-locate the Rotunda with Connolly Hospital will not go ahead? Will he explain why this announcement was not made before the planning decision was made? What is the Government going to do now to get this urgent project over the line and how will it do that quickly?”
“That extension would have included a 20-bed neonatal intensive care unit and a 25-bed special care baby unit, as well as new labour and postnatal wards and 80 additional hospital bedrooms - a game-changer for the care of women and babies. Unbelievably, however, planning permission for this extension was revoked by An Coimisiún Pleanála. An appeals board said the extension did not represent an overwhelming public benefit "sufficient to justify the degree of heritage harm identified". On what planet is the treatment of premature babies not an overwhelming public benefit? The mind boggles. The absurdity of that decision makes at least some sense when we realise that An Coimisiún Pleanála partially based this decision on Government policy to co-locate the Rotunda with Connolly Hospital.”
“It is not a large room and it is stuffed full of equipment that overflows into the surrounding corridors. Right now there are seven babies in incubators in that room. Their machines are practically on top of each other and their mothers and nurses are squeezed into the spaces in between. One mum with her tiny, gorgeous baby on her chest was afraid to lean too far back in her chair in case she hit another incubator. There is no privacy, no dignity and no proper protection from hospital-acquired infections. There is about a meter between each incubator, to fit parents, nurses and equipment. The team in the Rotunda hoped that would change when a critical care extension was built onto the hospital.”
“One in six babies in this State is born in the Rotunda. It is the busiest maternity hospital in the country by some distance and it is also the oldest maternity hospital in the world, and in many ways it feels like it. I was there yesterday to speak to the team after the devastating news that the planning permission for their long-awaited and desperately needed extension had been overturned. On Friday, as the news filtered through the hospital corridors, staff were in shock. One told me they burst into tears. They literally could not believe it because they could not comprehend how anyone could walk into that neonatal intensive care unit and deny that those babies needed more space. I visited the neonatal intensive care unit yesterday to see the conditions myself.”
“All I can say is, I hope in the lead-up to the next election, people judge the Taoiseach not on his empty promises in those few weeks, but on his actions now. In the depths of a housing crisis, he is introducing legislation that allows landlords to jack up rents to so-called market rate in between tenancies, which will result in more children being evicted into homelessness. It is a disgrace.”
“When the Taoiseach considers the context of 17,000 homeless people, including 5,000 homeless children, when you consider the fact that rents have gone up 117% between 2010 and 2025 when the EU average is 28.8%, when you consider that house prices are up €200,000 since 2015, he comes in here week after week and says that his approach is working. Every day he stands up and defends his approach and somehow tries to blame the Social Democrats is another day he loses even more credibility on housing.”
“What the Government is doing is a betrayal because these plans did not feature in the Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael general election manifestos or in the programme for Government. The coalition parties misled the public on housing figures to get back into power, and then quickly went back to making policies that mainly protect-----”
“The Social Democrats would do things differently. Just last week, we published detailed plans explaining how we would set up a State construction company and acquire four modular home factories to turbocharge the delivery of social and affordable homes. We have also published plans to set up a new State savings scheme to use just some of the nearly €170 billion sitting in Irish deposit accounts, and earning almost no interest, to build the homes we so desperately need. This could be a real national effort to finally address this crisis that hundreds and thousands of us could be a part of. There are solutions to this housing disaster. There is another way. The Government could finally admit that its approach is not working. It could change course and direction.”
“Why would young people stay here through their 20s and 30s just to hand over all of their income to a landlord? What kind of a life is that? How many more children are going to become homeless because of this legislation today? I welcome some aspects of the legislation. The Social Democrats have fought for a long time for improved security for renters and for a rent price register. However, the impact of some positive reforms is going to be completely swallowed up by the impact of what the Government is doing on rent prices because people are already struggling to pay record rents. More and more of them are being forced to move back in with their parents or to sleep on friends' couches and record numbers are becoming homeless. This is not just a housing disaster; it is a social catastrophe.”
“Today, the Government is using the guillotine to ram through legislation that will have one overriding result, that is, allowing record rents rip even further. Once this legislation goes through, it will mean monthly rents for new tenancies being reset to market rates. People watching at home might not know what that means because the phrase "market rate" does not capture what is really going on here. People will see monthly rents for new tenancies soaring to €2,500 to €3,000 all over the country. That is €30,000 or more every year in after-tax income that renters will be expected to pay. What nurse, teacher, garda or retail worker can afford that? What will happen to our critical public services when staff cannot afford their rents? What will happen to our cities and our towns when people are priced out of them?”
“We need our maternal health care to be evidence based. We need to recognise the immense physical and mental toll giving birth takes on people. We need to expand supports in that regard. We need to expand paid leave to cover the first year of a child's life. We need to modernise the maternity and infant scheme, and to implement the national maternity strategy.”
“I thank the Taoiseach. I acknowledge that the postnatal hubs delivered through Sláintecare do excellent work. The point that the care campaign is highlighting is that those services need to be expanded massively to address the mental health gaps in postnatal care. It is clear that it has not been prioritised to the extent that the Taoiseach just laid out. There is evidence of that in fact that is it has not been reviewed in 29 years. I specifically asked about the review of the maternity and infant scheme. It was supposed to be ready in quarter 1 of this year. When will it be ready? The Taoiseach mentioned the mother and baby unit in his reply. When will that be delivered? Is it planned to have more than one in Ireland? We are far behind other countries like the UK on this. The care campaign is not calling for anything radical.”
“What makes this more frustrating is that the Government has already acknowledged so many of the flaws in the system. Many of the solutions are contained in the national maternity strategy, which is gathering dust on a shelf somewhere. I ask the Taoiseach to follow through and to recognise that birth has a profound impact on women's health and well-being far beyond six weeks, and for the State to finally step up and help mothers through that first difficult year. I am asking him to deliver a mother and baby unit so that getting mental health support does not mean being separated from one's baby. Will the Government produce a strategy to expand physical and mental health supports to mothers for an entire year after birth? We have been waiting on a review of the maternity and infant scheme for ten years.”
“The maternity and infant scheme which outlines postnatal care in Ireland has not been updated since 1997. That is 29 years ago. The long-promised review has been endlessly delayed. An entire generation of women have been born, are having children and are going through the same old creaking system as their mothers did. The standard of postnatal care in Ireland is far below what is available in other countries such as France, Germany and the Netherlands. Despite the incredible work of midwives and other staff in our maternity services, our system does not represent best practice. It does not embody the reality faced by mothers in 2026 and it does not reflect everything we know about the importance of the first year for mother and child.”
“When sleep deprivation accumulates, when your partner goes back to work, when supports fall away and when you start to feel invisible and unheard, everyone expects you to just get on with it. Of course, all of these are immeasurably harder for single parents. This is the reality that is being highlighted by Aolish Gormley and the Year of Care campaign. Those involved are asking for something very simple, namely for the Government to finally prioritise mothers. There is no strategy for supporting mothers' physical and mental health in their first year after giving birth. With postnatal appointments largely ending after six weeks, mental health supports are inconsistent, inaccessible or entirely absent. Paid leave ends months before many women have physically or psychologically recovered.”
“I am going to read one woman’s account of her postnatal care: At my 6 week post natal check, the consultant who had delivered my baby asked me only about contraception. There were no questions about my mental health, my emotional state, or how I was coping. I left that appointment feeling invisible and unheard. Like I was just a vessel that had to ‘get on with things’. After giving birth, mothers are faced with a countdown. Six weeks of postnatal care. Six-weeks of check-ups. Six weeks, and then you are on your own. Life with a newborn does not become easier after those six weeks. For so many women, it becomes even harder. postnatal depression, anxiety and overwhelm can build up over months.”
“In 2026, there is no excuse for this complete disregard of the crucial role of therapy in recovery. The Government can introduce an outright ban. Why has it not done it?”
“The use of counselling notes in trials for sexual offences is outrageous and grotesque. This morning, the Cabinet approved new legislation on this but it sounds a lot like the status quo - a court deciding if counselling notes should be released. This is a gross invasion of privacy. It stops victims coming forward and slows or prevents their recovery because victims are afraid to seek help. They feel they have no safe space where they can deal with their pain and trauma because their inner thoughts and feelings can be weaponised against them by their abuser in a courtroom. Why are we tolerating this instead of outright banning it? The law is supposed to be about balancing competing rights. Can the Taoiseach explain to victims why their rights are always pushed to the bottom? The cornerstone of therapy is confidentiality.”
“The Taoiseach did not answer the question, so I will ask it again. How can he stand over a plan that will drive rents even higher?”
“The Taoiseach saying that this is the most significant improvement for renters shows how low the bar is for renters in terms of improvements. Listening to him, it is easy to understand why people feel such despair about housing. The Government is out of ideas. We need a radical reset on housing and this Government just will not deliver that because that would mean admitting failure, and the Taoiseach does not seem capable of that. Rents are at record levels and this legislation will drive them even higher. The Taoiseach can criticise the Social Democrats all he likes with his usual, baseless attacks, but the housing disaster is getting worse on his watch. It does not have to be like this. He could take radical action and prioritise renters and those who want to own their own home. He chooses not to.”
“The Government could increase protections for renters instead of stripping them away. It could introduce a three-year rent freeze and use that time to boost supply of affordable homes using a State construction company and modular home factories. How can the Taoiseach stand over a plan that will drive record-high rents even higher?”
“All of these prices are from daft.ie today and they are only going in one direction - up. Does the Taoiseach believe these rents are acceptable and affordable? Does he think they should go up? The Government can dress this up whatever way it wants and can try its level best to spin this Bill as protection for renters, but no one is going to buy it. This Government has not just failed to deliver on housing; it has repeatedly misled people about that failure. The reality is, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have spent a decade turning a housing crisis into more and more of a disaster. Now, instead of admitting this and changing its approach, it is doubling down, making renters pay the price of Government failure again by using them as sacrificial lambs and bleeding them dry in the hope of boosting supply. It is not too late to change course.”
“Ireland already has some of the highest rents in Europe. Incredibly, today's decision will drive them even higher. Why is the focus of this Government constantly on the protection of landlords' profits? When we consider the context, we are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, rents have already doubled over the last ten years and there are 16,000 homeless people, of whom nearly 5,000 are children. It says a lot that this Government's legislation today is not directly focused on urgently helping them. I have to wonder if the Government is even aware of how high rents are at the moment and what new tenants could be forced to pay under market rent. Today, a two-bedroom apartment in Dublin is going for €3,400 per month. In Cork, it is €2,250, in Galway, it is €3,000, and in Limerick, it is €2,800.”
“On behalf of the Social Democrats, I express our deepest sympathies to Grace Lynch's family. Our thoughts are with her family, friends, boyfriend and extended community today. This Government was elected on promises that it was addressing the housing disaster. Many people struggling to buy and rent a home believed it. They took the Taoiseach at his word, they trusted him and many of them voted for him. Those people have been looking on as promise after promise that was made to them have turned to dust. The legislation the Cabinet signed off on today is the latest betrayal of these people. Between tenancies, landlords will be allowed to hike up rents to match the market rate. Just to be clear, the market rate is effectively a rate that is set by landlords. Every expert before the housing committee said this would result in higher rents.”
“Having dragged their heels in investigating Bolger, no such reticence was shown by gardaí in investigating journalists. This is despite the fact the case had been mentioned in open court and the media were fully entitled to cover it. Is the Minister concerned about the case? Has he asked the Garda Commissioner why an investigation was launched into the media? Is he satisfied that domestic violence complaints made against gardaí are treated appropriately?”
“The handling by An Garda Síochána of a domestic violence complaint against Garda Trevor Bolger is hugely concerning. When his ex-wife, Margaret Loftus, first disclosed Bolger's attack on her, she said it seemed impossible to get anyone to take it seriously. She even had to watch as Bolger was promoted to detective and issued with a firearm after she had raised the issue. Ms Loftus had to compile her own case file before an investigation started. Bolger was eventually charged in 2019 and on Friday pleaded guilty to assault. However, it has now been revealed that a Garda investigation was launched when the media first reported the details of the case in 2020. The security and crime editor of The Irish Times , Conor Lally, was interviewed as part of this inquiry.”
“Will Canada be next? Nobody really knows the answer to that question. That is the level of dangerous absurdity we are dealing with from the chaos merchant in the Oval Office. If this aggressive behaviour is not a red line for the EU, what will be?”
“I am in complete agreement that any trade war would be hugely damaging. We do not want one; the EU does not want one. It is Trump who is weaponising tariffs, threatening to renege on a trade deal that was agreed only a few months ago and refusing to rule out using force to annex Greenland. These are threats that nobody could have imagined until recently but they are now a grim reality. I recognise how difficult the situation is, but the strategy of EU leaders appeasing Trump has not worked. His belligerence and erratic behaviour are escalating. He has invited Putin, an indicted war criminal, to sit on the Board of Peace, which was supposed to be set up to oversee Gaza but now seems intended to undermine the UN. Then, last night, Trump posted a picture of Canada depicted as American territory. What are we supposed to take from that?”
“Last night he said that European leaders would not "push back too much" on his attempts to annex Greenland. He published a picture depicting Canada and Greenland as United States territory. None of this is normal, and it is time the response from the EU reflected that. Does the Taoiseach agree that the strategy of flattering Trump has backfired? Does he agree that the EU needs to stand strong in a unified response and that all options must be on the table?”
“I do not know how that is a credible position when Trump is telling everyone he wants to rip up that deal and go even further by attacking the sovereignty of Greenland and Denmark. How can the EU ratify the deal in these circumstances? I agree with the Government that any escalating trade war would be hugely damaging, and it is clearly something we want to avoid, but we will not do that by bowing to Trump's bully tactics. What is needed now is for the EU to stand firm and, instead of rolling over for Trump, to adopt a strong united response that makes it clear that all options, including the use of retaliatory tariffs and the anti-coercion instrument, are on the table. At the moment, Trump is openly mocking the EU. He does not take it seriously.”
“A long-standing trading partner is increasingly an aggressor. Trump says the United States needs Greenland because it is critical to US security, but Greenland is not mentioned once in his national security strategy published less than two months ago. What has changed since that strategy was issued is Trump's invasion of Venezuela and the kidnapping of Maduro. European leaders' lack of criticism of that flagrant breach of international law has clearly emboldened Trump. If he can invade one country and suffer no consequences, why not another? I listened to the Taoiseach's interview on RTÉ on Sunday in which he said that the trade deal between the EU and the United States should be ratified.”
“Today marks the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump's inauguration, so we have three years left to go. The question for EU leaders is whether can they spend all of that time trying to keep Donald Trump happy, because all the evidence shows that this strategy is not working. For 12 months, leaders in Europe have fawned over Trump. No matter what outrage, insult or international incident he has provoked, the response from Europe has been the same: to avoid direct criticism, and even to heap praise and flattery on him to try to keep him on side. Now we see where it has gotten us. Trump is demanding that the United States acquires Greenland and is refusing to rule out using military force to do so. It is clear we are through the looking glass when it comes to the Trump Administration.”
“It is welcome that the Taoiseach has spoken to the Attorney General. I wonder when that happened and when he plans to convene the meeting of the relevant Ministers. Is the Taoiseach aware of any kind of investigation already taking place?”
“I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. I am aware that the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, had said she would arrange a meeting with X. That did not exactly fill me with confidence in the first instance. On “Morning Ireland”, we heard the UCD law professor and chair of Digital Rights Ireland, T.J. McIntyre, say that an immediate criminal investigation was warranted. He said that if somebody set up a child abuse image producing factory on, for example, Fenian Street, and their name was not Elon Musk, they would have been raided by the gardaí long ago. It is safe to say that in that scenario, there would not be any kind of meeting with the Minister. I am glad the Taoiseach acknowledged that we have existing laws in relation to this for companies. Not distributing child sexual abuse images is one that very clearly should be abided by.”
“We know that the Trump Administration has a close relationship with X and Elon Musk. Is that the reason the Government is unwilling to protect women and children and enforce its own laws - the fears of pushback from the Trump Administration? If that is not the reason, can the Taoiseach tell us why a company that is facilitating the creation and publication of child sexual abuse images is being treated with kid gloves by the Government?”
“This means that a company like xAI, which is facilitating the creation and distribution of child abuse material, can be prosecuted here. The real question is why that is not happening. Why has the response from the Government to this scandal been so muted and confusing? The communications Minister, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan, has stated responsibility for the creation of these disgusting images lies with users rather than the company. Meanwhile, the Minister of State with responsibility for AI, Deputy Niamh Smyth, has said X is breaking the law. She also said enforcement action should be taken against X and Grok. Which is it? What is the Government’s position? Why are we not seeing criminal investigations into the production and distribution of these child abuse images?”
“This has resulted in hundreds of thousands of sexualised images of women and children proliferating on X. According to one study, up to 6,700 sexually suggestive or nudifying images were being created every hour by Grok. This is not just horrifying and shocking; it is illegal under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act. Professor Conor O'Mahony, former special rapporteur on child protection and dean of the school of law at UCC, has been clear about this. According to him, the definition of child abuse image material in the Act is broad enough to cover real images, manipulated deepfakes and entirely fake images, and, crucially, the potential for prosecution is not limited to those who create or share child abuse material. Offences under the Act can be committed by companies.”
“"@grok Put her in a bikini and rub her down with baby oil." "@grok Replace her outfit with dental floss." "@grok Have one of them grab her boobs from behind and the other one put his hand under her skirt while kissing her." These are just some of the vile prompts given to Grok, an AI tool, on the X social media platform, which has generated hundreds of thousands of abusive images online. These images are not a mistake. This is the model working as intended. Last year, new edit features were added to Grok to make it easy to undress people in photographs. Incredibly, apparently no thought was given to how this tool would be used and weaponised against women. The company did not even bother to include age restrictions to prevent child sexual abuse imagery being generated.”