Joanna Byrne
Louth · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“Irish artists and writers have given their labour, blood, sweat, tears and dreams to creating something uniquely human - songs, stories, music and paintings that mean so much to many - only to see their labour being fed to AI systems without their consent and without being financially compensated for their loss.”
“A couple of days before my tenth birthday, I came home from school to once again find my mother beaten to a pulp and our home smashed to pieces. The bravery of my mother that day changed the course of our lives forever.”
“The basic income for artists scheme was only made permanent after it proved it could boost the economy. Many of our beloved cultural events are based on Irish artists having the backing to be able to hone their craft and share their art.”
“As a nine-, eight-, seven-, six- and five-year-old girl, I used to sit at the top of the stairs and pray to hear my mam scream or cry because it was the only way I knew she was surviving another beating.”
“We have the Presidency at the Council of the EU for the next six months and this is the opportune time to act. Whether by accident or design, putting protections in place has been non-existent or has been moving at a snail's pace.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion on protecting the copyright of Irish artists in the era of artificial intelligence. It is important to note this is a nuanced and targeted motion to protect Irish artists across the entire spectrum of the arts.”
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“I commend the Social Democrats on bringing this motion forward. I am very happy to support it. The shortage of GPs in my constituency of Louth has been long flagged, yet the issues remain. Last year, my party colleague flagged that County Louth was currently facing a critical shortage of general practitioners, with reports indicating that it had the highest number of medical card holders in Ireland waiting to be assigned a doctor. Prior to that, a study by the Irish College of General Practitioners showed a 2.8% reduction of the number of GPs in Louth. This is at a time when we are seeing huge population increases throughout the county, in Drogheda, Dundalk and Ardee.”
“Those are very strong words and it is great to hear the Government will not be found wanting in this regard, but talk is cheap if it is not backed up by action. I sincerely hope the Minister meant everything he said. The Government has powers. Nobody is asking him to jeopardise any investigation. It is just about enforcement of the powers under the existing mechanisms, to ensure they are enacted with the full rigour they can be in order that we will not have a repeat of the Grok scandal.”
“Coimisiún na Meán could use the Online Safety Media Regulation Act today to issue a penalty or fine of €20 million or up to 10% of turnover but it is waiting, like this Government, for the EU to conclude its investigation under the Digital Services Act. Despite everything the Minister has outlined, the Government is refusing to call on Coimisiún na Meán to use the Online Safety Media Regulation Act, so enforcement of the regulations in place is not paramount. While the story rolls on, in the absence of enforcement, people are left exposed, mainly women and children.”
“This question was originally submitted to the Minister for communications but was transferred to the Department of enterprise. I am not entirely sure why he did not want to answer it last week. I note his comments about examinations, reviews and the work under way in various Departments but the fact is inaction by this Government against social media giants cannot continue. Thus far the Government has sat back and waited for anyone that is not it to act even though there are more than enough adequate Irish laws for it to use to step up and face down social media companies when harmful AI tools like Grok are used. The Minister mentioned Coimisiún na Meán extensively in his response.”
“I ask the Minister to outline the steps he is taking to tackle harmful AI tools and the social media platforms that host them. I invite him to give a definitive statement this morning on the concrete actions being taken to ensure enhanced protection for online users.”
“I commend my colleague. This is the most crucial amendment to be tabled in respect of the Bill. It is something the Government really needs to consider and support. Otherwise, it is going to continue to rip the heart and soul out of our communities and the hospitality, tourism and other vibrant trading and social scenes in our towns and villages around the country.”
“The contract is up for renewal over the next few weeks. There is massive pressure from all elected representatives, both locally and nationally, for it not to be renewed. The reason that has been asked of the Government and the reason why a community impact assessment is needed is because what has happened has had a devastating impact. The Chamber of Commerce vocally opposed the closure of the hotel. Those involved with the business improvement scheme, who were not consulted or engaged with, came out against it at the time. To this day, it remains their position that what happened decimated the heart and soul of the largest town in the country and left us with no functioning hotel. It is completely unheard of that decisions like this can be made without any consultation or consideration for the effect it could have on the community.”
“If the Minister of State needs an example as to why this amendment is crucially important, he should talk to any of the nearly 50,000 people who live in my hometown of Drogheda. Overnight, and at the stroke of a pen, the only hotel in the town was taken away without any consultation with the local authority or without any consultation or communication with the elected representatives in the area. As my colleague pointed out, we got an email the night before to say that the contract had been signed. There was no consideration given to the impact this would have on the hospitality trade and the tourism trade, or to the affect it would have on the arts, tourism and the surrounding areas. There was nothing. The soul of the town was completely destroyed overnight at the stroke of a pen. Two years on, we are still trying to recover from that.”
“Until flood schemes and mitigation works are completed, this is the sad reality they must live with. We need to act now. Let us not be obliged to have this conversation again this time next year.”
“Local authority staff are well able to plan a flood defence in an area where they have been implementing emergency measures year on year. This is obviously not a matter of money as the Government has a budget surplus. The fact is that it has under-resourced local authorities, there are not adequate staff in An Coimisiún Pleanála and it has allowed construction on floodplains. The Government has allowed the OPW to become unaccountable. It needs to maintain the local rivers and the OPW must put dredging plans in place where needed. This is the story the length and breadth of the country as we have been hearing this morning. The fact is, as is the lived reality for people in my home area, that Mornington, Baltray and Termonfeckin will flood again.”
“While those speeches are being made, the residents of towns and villages that have suffered flood damage multiple times will be wondering what they have to do to see some action and results. These are the residents who cannot get their homes, businesses or possessions insured anymore and they are the ones left to shoulder the costs year on year. There are 94 flood relief schemes described as ongoing, 68 schemes have not even reached the planning stage and 54 are not even under active consideration. The five-stage process for a flood prevention scheme just takes far too long. In some areas, it is taking decades but in most places it is taking 12 to 15 years. An immediate change could be made to the stage two planning process or public exhibition confirmation, which can take up to two years.”
“This Government treats flood prevention schemes like something that is topical or seasonal. Every year when there is flooding, as there always is, the Government parties make statements on how they are doing everything they can and make positive statements about how they are definitely tackling the flooding problem this time but, unfortunately, it does not accelerate works, it does not cut down on the bureaucracy and it does not cut down on the timelines for delivery. Its members will be making the same speeches they will make next year, or later on this year when there is more flooding around the State, and while they are doing this, the local representatives are left to warn their constituents to avoid certain areas due to more flooding.”
“I thank the Minister of State for his response. The requested 6% increase for An Post pensioners and 2.1% increase for Eir pensioners are minuscule in the greater scheme of things. We are in a cost-of-living crisis. The cost of absolutely everything has gone up and while it is pennies to the Government, it is massive to these people who served this State for decades. I note in the Minister of State's response that the Department has acknowledged that the waiting time for approval is frustrating for both workers and pensioners. We need to develop a better system going forward. These vulnerable people, who have served the State for decades, cannot be left waiting like this. I urge the Minister of State to do anything he can to get this across the line for Eir and An Post pensioners.”
“In response to my question on this matter three weeks ago, the Minister said that the Department and all relevant stakeholders "are endeavouring to achieve the same at the earliest, keeping in line with the appropriate processes, compliance with all applicable requirements, and necessary approvals." Are we there yet? It is as simple as that.”
“The increases have already been agreed by unions, trustees, actuaries and the companies' boards but the Government is sitting on its hands. We do not know why. The An Post and Eir pensioners do not receive annual State pension increases. They rely on these agreed adjustments to meet basic living costs. The Government knows this and its inaction makes a mockery of its stated commitment to protecting vulnerable pensioners and addressing the cost-of-living pressures they face. The pension schemes are well regulated, they have plenty of money in them and there is no cost to the Exchequer.”
“I hope that after this matter being raised with the Department by myself and members of all parties and none over recent weeks and months, through umpteen parliamentary questions, on Leader's Questions and in various Topical Issues debates, that the Minister of State has some better news today for the Eir and An Post pensioners. I hope that he listened to the retired workers from Eir and An Post who were outside the Dáil yesterday demanding immediate action on pension increases already agreed and unjustifiably withheld. We stood with them yesterday and listened to their concerns. It is never seemly for the Government to have pensioners protesting outside this House. If the Government wants to do something about this, it is in its gift to do so.”
“The Online Safety and Media Regulation Act gives it the power under Irish law to issue a penalty or fine of €20 million or 10% of turnover if social media companies fail to protect children and the public from harmful, illegal content. Instead, it has stepped aside for the European Commission to conclude its formal investigation into X under the EU Digital Services Act, saying that it is associated with this investigation, and it is ready to play its part. Legislation is only useful if it in force. Behind every damning statistic that has prompted this Bill are the lived realities of victims of abuse. Some of them are here in the Gallery this evening. For them, not only does this Bill need to be passed but it needs to be enforced.”
“In recent hearings on online safety, experts gave detailed testimonies on how the social media platforms were failing in their responsibilities. There was a stark disparity in what the social media companies' representatives were saying happens when complaints are made to the lived reality of people and the testimonies given by guests at the previous hearings. They are not facing up to the problems on their platforms. If they do not make actionable changes to their approaches to online safety, then the full extent of the law should be brought to bear on online platforms and service providers who try to flout the rules. This amendment to Coco's Law will help with that. Coimisiún na Meán also needs to step up and use all the tools given to it to tackle social media companies. It is not doing that.”
“I welcome this Bill. I commend my colleagues on bringing it forward. Until the latest social media controversy arose, I and many others would have thought that we had sufficient legislation to tackle social media companies propagating nudification AI. The Government has been too slow to act. That is why this Bill is necessary and welcome. Last week, TikTok, Meta and Google were before the media committee to discuss the regulation of online platforms and supports to improve online safety and participation. X was invited but refused to attend. All three companies' attendees' opening statements made assertions that their priorities were online safety, data protection and child and user welfare. They also stated that they could remove reported posts within hours during the hearing.”
“It is much higher in my home town of Drogheda and in the south of the county, as people there bought in the ever-expanding commuter belt. Only last week, a modest three-bedroom terraced home was advertised for an eye-watering €3,250 per month. This Bill will continue to drive those rents up for an average apartment or house in the wee county. We can be damn sure the rise in rent will be not so wee. This is nothing more than a rip-off rental Bill the Government needs to bin now.”
“This is at a time when we are at a record level of homelessness, with almost 17,000 people homeless, including 5,000 children. People had a little bit of protection in rent pressure zones but with the Bill, the Government is taking that protection away. Nobody wants this Bill, except for the big institutional investors to increase their profits. The Government's entire housing and rental policy seems to be in service to those big businesses, not the men, women and children who need affordable rental accommodation throughout this State. Towards the end of last year, in Louth, market rents were on average 6.4% higher in 2025 than in the previous year. The average listed rent is now €1,907 a month, up 52% from the time of the Covid pandemic, but that is averaged across the county.”
“Each time I have the opportunity to speak on housing, I say this. I have to start by reiterating that for the common good, I want every Government housing and homelessness policy to be effective. For every person on the housing list, the hidden homeless, every family in a homeless hub and all of those in emergency accommodation, I want the Government's policies to work. The fact is, however, they are not working. Rent controls have not worked. Now we have this Bill, the latest Government intervention in the rental market that will make things worse for renters and allow rents to rise, and ultimately, there will be people who are no longer able to afford their rental accommodation and will also end up in their local authority housing office trying to source emergency accommodation.”
“That is a heartening response. I will point out that there are 149 recommendations in the report dealing with one entity. We sincerely hope we will not have to have reports on all these bodies with similar recommendations. If we are learning from that going forward, that is warmly welcomed.”
“I am a member of the public accounts committee. I am glad the Minister mentioned the report we published in November. The highlights of that were the capital underspend in 2023; the National Gallery's X-ray equipment; the Art Council's failed IT project; departmental oversight and governance failures; decline in the RTÉ licence fee income and emergency funding; performance measurement deficiencies; the Art Council's grant funding; and strategic funding transparency. It is a laundry list of failures of oversight and management by the Government that has dominated hours of debates in this Chamber and at multiple committees. These were only the 2023 scandals. I ask for a commitment that we will not see a repeat of this in the 2024 reports.”
“It is important to note that national governing bodies are finding difficulties with the application process. I have been around the country, as has the Minister of State, meeting these organisations. There is a general agreement any time we talk about the grant application processes that they are overly bureaucratic. It is all right for large organisations that have the funds to hire in companies to assist them with their applications, but it is still a drain on limited resources. Smaller organisations simply do not have that luxury. Could we bear that in mind going forward and, if a remedy is needed, do something about it?”
“Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael made commitments in their manifestos to increase the betting tax from 2% to 3% and to use this funding to invest in sport, but this has not been done yet. That increase of 1% in the levy would have raised an additional €50 million in desperately needed funding for Irish sport. To harness and evolve various sports, the simple fact is we need more funding, but we also need application processes that are user friendly. The information and consultation evenings are welcome. I look forward to seeing more of them being rolled out.”
“I am delighted for all the successful applicants and I know the funding will be put to good use. All of these grants are vital to our counties and local communities' sporting infrastructure. Many of our sporting bodies, from national governing bodies to local clubs, have put out reports and press statements on the need for new infrastructure and the upgrading of existing facilities. These funding streams are crucial to that. In the last round of the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, there were 96 applications, with just 35 being successful. We need a new focus on sport in this country and additional funding to be allocated. I am going to keep repeating that.”
“I asked if it was something Revenue would support. They responded, on the public record, that they support this legislation. I ask the Minister to take the revenue stream away from criminal gangs and protect the health of our youth. Not only should he be supporting this Bill now, but he should be doing all in his power to enact it without delay.”
“Revenue and customs officials said that nitrous oxide is being brought into Ireland at scale by organised crime gangs and is being used nationwide. While the smaller cartridges have a use in catering, Mr. Thomas Talbot, from Revenue's criminal investigation team said there is no legitimate use for the larger canisters. There is growing evidence of the use of nitrous oxide in communities. The number of instances of harm caused by the misuse of nitrous oxide are becoming increasingly apparent. I explained to the Revenue officials that this Bill was coming before the House to provide for the regulation of the sale of nitrous oxide. I told them it would ensure that nitrous oxide would be regulated for commercial use only and this Bill would give An Garda powers to seize canisters from those lacking the appropriate licences.”
“The owners' management company installed new CCTV cameras to look at the area being used to consume vast amounts of FastGas. Local residents had to clean up the area. They ensured that whenever cars from outside their area parked and the groups began to gather to distribute and use the balloons, Drogheda gardaí were called immediately. Thankfully, they responded to the calls and moved the people with laughing gas on. That was several months ago and, thankfully, residents have reported that the gangs, canisters and antisocial behaviour stayed away from this area but, unfortunately, it just spreads elsewhere. Only last month, Revenue officials were at the public accounts committee, where I raised this Bill and what it contained with them.”
“I commend my colleague Deputy Mark Ward on his relentless work on this Bill. Throughout the length and breadth of the country, we are seeing that what were once small silver bullet containers of nitrous oxide are now huge canisters littering our parks, streets and shopping areas. This is no longer a small-scale issue. I have been sent photos by my constituents of an entire shopping area in my hometown covered by empty boxes of canisters and huge canisters lying around in plain sight. In one residential area alone, the noise, litter and antisocial behaviour from people using these huge canisters on a daily and nightly basis became so bad that local residents, Drogheda gardaí, myself and my party colleague, Councillor Eric Donovan, had to put a collective special focus on the area for a sustained period to end the behaviour.”
“We have been told an extensive stakeholder engagement has taken place. We have had an OECD review. We have been told that implementing DEIS+ is a stated goal of this Government and that €48 million will be allocated next year. When will the DEIS+ scheme details be finalised? When will they be published? When will schools like St. Paul's and others, for which the evidence supports their inclusion, be offered the assurances they are long overdue?”
“Budget 2026 outlined that a new DEIS plan would be published in late 2025. A key action in the plan will be the creation of a DEIS+ scheme, providing additional targeted resources to schools or students most at risk of educational disadvantage. I recently met with a principal of a DEIS school in Drogheda which is providing an incredibly supportive environment for local children to thrive in, despite the ongoing social and economic challenges in the area. For decades, St. Paul's National School has been at the heart of a community that has been forgotten by successive Governments. They have been watching and waiting for the Government to provide information on the long-awaited DEIS+ scheme and it was very disheartening for the school to tell me it is really worried about being forgotten once more.”
“Home-monitoring and health alarm customers should be migrated onto more modern devices that will work with fibre to the home, FTTH, broadband where such networks are available to them. FTTH networks are significantly more resilient to storm damage than copper landline networks and are more easily repaired. We should maintain a stock of monitoring devices that work with mobile networks and can be deployed by the providers following major storms to impacted customers who are likely to experience extended fixed-line outages.”
“There are clear, proactive actions that can be taken by the Government. The Government can review the tree-cutting capabilities each local authority has so that it can respond adequately when we have another storm event and tackle trees on public land. The Government can ensure landowners are complying with the Roads Act 1993 to remove diseased or damaged roadside trees throughout the State. The Department should, and must, engage with pendant providers to identify who the vulnerable users are and what type of network they are connected to. The expert advice we have received is that home-monitoring and health alarm customers should be migrated from copper landline-dependent devices to newer hardware devices with a mobile network backup.”
“The Government has said that the issues of vegetation and forestry management and vulnerable persons are, per the review of Storm Éowyn published in October by the Department of housing, complex and multisectoral and will likely require an all-of-government approach. It has been a year since Storm Éowyn, so what is this proactive multidepartment approach and is connectivity for vulnerable people using a health-monitoring or pendant alarm a priority of same?”
“The length and breadth of this country, there are elderly people doing their best to live independently but who rely on health-monitoring and pendant alarms. When that damage was caused, a number of elderly and vulnerable people had no monitoring in place for an extended period of time throughout the country. This is not acceptable. Our citizens' lives are at risk if they cannot call for help. I have asked questions on this matter of the Department. The Department formed the telecommunications response and resilience group, the purpose of which the Government has said is to promote resilience and high availability of Ireland’s telecommunications infrastructure and provide a co-ordinated sectoral emergency response capability. So far, no proactive steps have been taken to address the damaged or diseased trees.”
“Storm Éowyn was the first test for this Government in the new Dáil term. It took almost three weeks for power and connectivity to be restored to all homes, farms, schools, businesses and clubs. The Government failed its first test. Lessons have to be learned. Ministers cannot just sit in meetings or berate Internet providers, because we will have another storm like Storm Éowyn. Power and connectivity will be lost again, especially in rural Ireland, and we must do everything to mitigate the risks. We must take proactive steps now and into the future to remove potential threats to the network. Storm Éowyn damaged or took down more than 6,000 telephone poles, which had to be replaced, along with vast expanses of cable. The majority of this damage was caused by extreme wind and diseased and damaged trees.”
“As well as that, I ask for urgent intervention from the Government with the NCSE to ensure Alfie and his mam get the eligibility letter they need for tomorrow and Alfie gets the education and care he deserves.”
“It is completely unacceptable the NCSE's refusal to issue a letter of eligibility will mean Alfie or any other child could not complete an application for a special school placement. For the sake of these vulnerable children, this arbitrary deadline needs to be scrapped.”
“The challenges he faces have increased since moving to mainstream education and his mam advises that only following hospital admissions in early October did she begin pushing for special class placement and learned of this deadline. They have secured a place in a special class in a different school that would meet Alfie's needs but the application could not be completed without a letter of eligibility from the NCSE. The school closes to applications tomorrow. I do not like raising individual issues on the floor of the House but, having contacted the local SENO and the NCSE to plead for flexibility in the deadline, I have been told the facility to issue the letter of eligibility has ended.”
“I am supporting a local family in Drogheda in dire straits because of a mind-boggling decision made by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, to bring forward an arbitrary deadline of 1 October for parents seeking special class or special school placement for their child in the upcoming academic year. Eight-year-old Alfie has a diagnosis of developmental language disorder and global delay sensory overload which means he cannot deal with change, has issues eating and drinking, needs help with toileting, wets and soils himself regularly and has severe anxiety and stress along with no sense of danger. He has been hospitalised owing to stress responses and mental health difficulties.”
“The online safety code places binding obligations on video-sharing platforms headquartered here, including YouTube, Meta, TikTok and so on, which is great. At the EU level, Article 28 of the Digital Services Act focuses specifically on protecting minors using a risk management and proportionate size approach, but there are still gaps in legislation that need to be addressed. We look forward to working with everybody in this House to make that happen. In particular, I look forward to working with the Minister on that.”
“In my opinion, it would contravene the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and, in particular, general comment No. 25. When talking about online safety, the Irish public's data - every adult, teen and child’s online data - must be protected from the online platform providers. The Data Protection Commissioner has issued €3.26 billion in fines over the last five years to these companies but has only collected 0.6% of those fines. The tech bros must be high-fiving each other at the Government’s inaction on this. We need to look at what additional powers the Data Protection Commissioner needs to enforce those fines. Let us not turn it into another Apple tax situation. We accept that a lot of work has been done here and at EU level to improve online safety.”
“This needs to be teased out further. We would not agree with a complete ban on under-16s accessing appropriate social media platforms unless there was empirical data to back that up. As of now, with the conflicting data, we would see that type of ban as being a blunt tool, arbitrary and completely unfair. It would show that the Government has a complete lack of interest in looking for solutions that are fair to all. We believe it would particularly disadvantage marginalised groups, such as migrant children, LGBTI+ children and others who do not have the opportunity to meet in person due to distance or a lack of appropriate forums to interact with each other in the offline world. This was a much-discussed topic in the lead-up to the Australian ban, but it seems to have been swept aside. Let us not repeat that here.”
“We want to see concrete proposals on what the verification methods will be to ensure they are viable. We would like to work collaboratively with all parties to make that happen. Government Members have made statements about implementing outright social media bans for those aged under 16, following in Australia's footsteps. The Minister said the Government is not currently looking at implementing that type of ban. However, he has also stated, and did so again here today, that his officials are working with the Government Chief Information Officer and his office to look at practical technical solutions to age verification as part of the Government's digital wallet, which is being developed using MyGovID. However, MyGovID is not available to anybody under 16, so this would mean a total ban for anyone under 16.”
“We have legislated to make the offline world safe for children. We can and should legislate to make the online world as safe for them as possible. Big tech platforms will constantly say they are doing all they can to ensure online safety, but we all know that self-regulation is no regulation. We cannot have companies that generate massive profits for themselves, as is their right, but be free from appropriate oversight and governance. They must be responsible for what is on their platforms and for who can access their platforms. We in Sinn Féin absolutely agree with the need for stringent age verification protocols on online platforms. Users should have to prove that they are the appropriate age to access platforms, not only to ensure that underage users are excluded, but also to prevent adults from accessing teen and pre-teen platforms.”
“We do not need to butt heads on this, and we will not, as long as the Government parties go into this process with an open mind. The Government parties cannot start this with a position that is already predetermined, a position that will lead to an outright online ban of any sort for youths, teens and children from the online platforms that can be deemed age-appropriate for them. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular general comment No. 25, sets out children's rights in the digital environment. These include the right to participate, the right to be protected from harm, the right not to be exploited for commercial gain and the right to access true and accurate information. Sinn Féin’s position is that children have a right to be online, and all of us in the House need to legislate to make it safe for them to do so.”
“I welcome this opportunity to discuss online safety. It is long overdue. It is a topic of interest to all of us in this Chamber, every parent in the country, every teacher, adult, teen and child. I ask that the Government work in a collaborative manner on this issue. It is too important for partisan politics. The opinions and input from all in the Opposition must be given due regard. The Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport must be front and centre in this process, along with input from the Committee on Artificial Intelligence. Experts in the field can and must be invited to these committees to give testimony on online safety. Work is already under way, and only last week we engaged with the Children's Rights Alliance and CyberSafeKids on this issue at the committee.”
“Sinn Féin recognises the change to the code of professional conduct for veterinary practitioners to prohibit veterinarians from carrying out surgical artificial insemination in dogs due to ethical and welfare considerations. However, this does not apply to greyhounds, and I and Sinn Féin believe it should also include greyhounds. Leave the pups with their mothers for the first ten weeks. Let them play and be fed, watered, nurtured and looked after properly until they can make someone the happiest person in the world when they are picked up and brought to what is hopefully their forever home. We need to close any sort of loophole that could be exploited with regard to animal care but we support the Bill.”