Maeve O'Connell
Dublin Rathdown · Fine Gael · Ireland
“I take this opportunity to raise awareness about lipoedema. As Deputy Sherlock said, one in 11 women or girls has it. That is one member of your camogie or football team or two in your leaving certificate class, at least. That is how significant this is. I know the Minister is a huge advocate for women's healthcare.”
“As the Minister of State may be aware, and no doubt he is, the cost and availability of childcare are two of the biggest issues in our society. It is certainly an issue in Deputy Currie's constituency and it is very much an issue in my constituency of Dublin Rathdown as well.”
“I am glad to hear about the nature of the viability of facilities because, unfortunately, one of the issues that is occurring is that as developments are put in place they provide facilities for childcare but it is often an empty shell. It is not necessarily fit for purpose for that particular community.”
“I would like an update on the review of the 2001 planning guidelines for local authorities on early learning and childcare settings. It is 25 years since they were set out and a lot has changed in our society, in our childcare needs and in best practice for childcare.”
“We certainly need to look at it in the short term and, in the long term, we need to build some type of flexibility into the system, an adaptation over time, if perhaps we do not need as many spaces in future. For now, we do need to be moving to a more realistic ratio of childcare places to homes as we increasingly urbanise.”
“The only comparator I have to the impact AI is having on higher education is Covid, which resulted in everybody having to work from home and teaching going online. However, there is one key difference. With Covid, there was always the expectation that eventually we would return to campuses and more familiar operations.”
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“There are now more all-girls schools offering PE as a leaving certificate subject than all-boys schools, something that would have been a very surprising fact not so long ago. Let us take just the six years from 2018 to 2024. In 2018 there were only 677 female leaving certificate PE students but now it is 7,296. That is a dramatic change and it shows the difference that can be made with the level of investment and focus on issues by the Government. I mentioned the report from last year which made a number of pragmatic recommendations, which I believe, if implemented, can help bridge the gap between men's and women's sports and sports activity.”
“I found it interesting that only three of the Oireachtas Members on that committee were female. It is very difficult to capture the female perspective if they are not in the room, and this is always one of the challenges we have here in this House. I also looked back on the report from 20 years earlier, in 2004, on women and sport. Those reports found that a lot of the barriers in 2004 were still there last year: lack of finance and facilities, lack of media coverage, lack of role models and insufficient numbers of sports leaders. The Government has made real progress in recent years on this, and I would like to highlight some positive news to Deputies O'Reilly and Sherlock.”
“It was a survey of senior business and executive women leaders and it found that 94% of them had participated actively in sport through school and-or college, highlighting the importance of the transferability of skills that are gained through active participation in sport into one's professional life. That is why it is so important we continue to invest in and support women in sports for the benefit that they and our future generations of young women will gain both on and off the pitch. This Government has done good work on this already. My colleague, Alan Dillon, and the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media published a report last year on this very topic, inclusion in sport, and made a number of excellent recommendations, which I will mention later.”
“I welcome the opportunity that has been given to us today to make statements for International Women's Day, although I know for many of us it has actually been quite a busy week attending many events both here in the House and in our constituencies. I myself just an hour ago was attending an event in my constituency which was hosted by Sandyford Business District, celebrating and supporting women's leadership and highlighting the importance of women's participation at every level of our society, from grassroots to boardrooms. That is why I highlight today an issue that is very close to my heart. I also know it is close to Deputy Ní Bhroin's heart, as she mentioned it as well. It is the area of sports. One of the interesting reports I have read was done by the EUI.”
“They know their communities and the parents and they want to know how this will potentially impact them and if they are going to be engaged in this transition.”
“I acknowledge the Minister's comments on the investment and the work she is doing to try to address the issues in the system. However, there is one area I am not picking up on. The survey of parents is being done and that is very worthwhile, but I am particularly interested in the Minister's measures to try to engage with the existing providers about moving to a different model of childcare provision. The Minister has talked about trying to open up a public service basis and actually having services directly provided. Many childcare providers in my area of Dublin-Rathdown are concerned about how that could impact on them in the future. They have invested quite significantly in their businesses.”
“What are the Minister's plans on engaging with the existing childcare providers who are the backbone of the current system and know the parents and their communities? How will these be incorporated in the Minister's plans to get to the figure of €200 per month, per child?”
“I appreciate the investment that has been made in early childcare. It has increased by about 40% in recent years, so it is quite a substantial investment. Unfortunately, as the Minister is well aware, we still have some of the highest childcare costs in Europe and we are second in the OECD countries. It is quite substantial and it is still quite a challenge for parents to try to meet. A recent Dublin Chamber of Commerce report found that nine out of ten businesses reported that the childcare crisis is a significant barrier to attracting and retaining staff. Not only is this affecting parents, children and childcare workers, it is also having a huge impact on business overall and is potentially affecting our competitiveness.”
“I want to ask the Minister about her ongoing work in the Department focusing on the reduction of childcare costs and making childcare more accessible. What are the plans to get to the commitment in the programme for Government to reduce childcare costs to €200 per child per month?”
“Obviously we could not introduce an ELVIS Act - I presume it would have to be the Bono Act - but it is an indicator of the direction of travel we need to take to enhance the positives while at the same time trying to address the potential negative outcomes as well. I ask the Minister of State, particularly in the area of public service provision, what sort of framework will be developed in order to deliver those public services using AI.”
“That is an area where AI could benefit all those who use our roads. As other Members have pointed out, however, there are also negative consequences and there are concerns. The EU Act is attempting to create a framework around all that for the positive development of technology. I am concerned about the misuse of that technology, such as deepfakes, which put words into someone’s mouth, or misusing people’s images. A piece of legislation that comes to mind, probably because of its name, is the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security, ELVIS, Act which was passed in Tennessee. It attempted to introduce penalties for misuse.”
“It is a big issue because not only are people trying to move around Dublin Rathdown itself but there is also the N11 and the M50 so, in effect, we are a travel-through county. There are many challenges there relating to how we move people around. The frustration expressed by residents last night, which I am sure everyone here has experienced, is that whether one walks, cycles or is in a car or bus, we have all been stopped at junctions where no one seems to be moving at all. As a pedestrian, I have found myself at traffic lights many times and while they say that the lights change automatically when a pedestrian pushes them, that is not the case. It is one of those frustrations. A pilot programme was conducted in the UK to try to use artificial intelligence specifically to improve traffic light sequencing.”
“Like many other tools we have and all the new technologies that have come along, it has become a tool that students can use effectively. As many other speakers have noted, our challenge is how we will use this tool effectively in order that we can spend more time focusing on the human tasks and get rid of much of the drudgery, which is effectively what ChatGPT was able to do for so many people. Obviously education is not the only area of public service in which artificial intelligence can assist us. I see huge potential for increased efficiencies in other areas of the public sector. Something that affects my area in Dublin Rathdown is mobility and movement, which the Minister of State mentioned. It came up at a meeting I held in Mount Merrion last night, where people talked about traffic light sequencing and the frustration with that.”
“It struggled, and still struggles – which is why my fellow Deputy wrote his own speech – because they are not very good at Irish English at all and one certainly could not rely on that. However, these tools are increasing in sophistication all the time and that was continuing to be a challenge for us. I welcome, therefore, that the programme for Government includes a plan to develop a policy for dealing with artificial intelligence in the area of education. That is very welcome. I would also like to highlight the positives. Our students are actually quite smart. After a while, they figured out that they could not just put the stuff in, get it and submit it because we are smart too and could spot it, so they learned how to use the tool.”
“My colleagues and I were suddenly faced with a situation whereby assignments that would normally take a couple of hours, days or even weeks to research, prepare and write could be done with a few clicks through some online interface. In those early iterations, it was quite easy for me and my colleagues to identify the use of things like ChatGPT. Other artificial intelligence providers are available, as my students discovered. We were able to identify this quite clearly. We have heard about the hallucinations, where it was just completely making stuff up. We could spot those things quite quickly, being experts in our fields. In addition, in the early iterations the language was quite clunky.”
“I thank the Minister of State for giving us time to discuss this very important issue. AI is something that is constantly talked about but I always find when I discuss it with constituents, there tends to be a mix of attitudes. Some people think it will be great and we will be able to save lots of time, while among others there is a mixture of fear and mostly uncertainty about how it will impact them and, as other speakers have highlighted, how it will impact people’s industries and jobs and their children’s futures. What should children study to deal with this future and totally uncertain world? That is one reason I wanted to speak on this topic today. During my time as a lecturer in TU Dublin we encountered the dramatic impact that the arrival of ChatGPT had on us and our students.”
“I was delighted to see in the programme for Government a commitment to develop a long-term strategy to address gender inequality in sport. In particular, we have an issue with retention rates among young people once they get to those teenage years. This is particularly acute among young women. What specific measures is the Taoiseach planning to take to address gender inequality and increase retention in sport among young women?”
“Every person is on a different journey and that range of services is absolutely essential in order to help them on their pathway to recovery. I also want to acknowledge that the mental health Bill is coming back to us. I look forward to it helping to address some of the issues I have raised today and to improve the mental health service and champion the needs of those who rely on its services. I look forward to continuing to champion these issues for the people of Rathdown throughout my term in the Dáil.”
“I welcome that we have an eating disorder treatment hub in Mount Carmel Community Hospital in my own constituency of Dublin-Rathdown. I visited it last week with the Minister for Health, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, to open the first of six new surgical hubs in the country. Those sorts of facilities within the community are vital in order to provide surgical treatment and mental health treatments as well. I very much welcome them. I also welcome the commitment in the programme for Government to enhance provision for adult and youth inpatient beds for eating disorders, as has been addressed by several speakers today. We need more beds and inpatient and outpatient services. Every person is different.”
“The other key concern those parents have is what happens when their children turn 18 and are no longer able to access the services in CAMHS. The goals of the national clinical programme for eating disorders for 2025 are to develop transition pathways between CAMHS and adult eating disorder teams. Creating those linkages is absolutely vital in ensuring young people can continue with that support. It will mean those young people who are on the path to recovery can continue to be supported and can continue to improve their mental and physical health and live those joyful and fulfilling lives. With early intervention, eating disorders can be prevented from becoming a lifetime illness. That is why it is so important. It is one of the things on which we can actually do something and turn people's lives around.”
“I acknowledge the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, for raising the issue of eating disorders in the last term of Government. She did a lot to raise awareness of the issue and worked to improve services in this area. I appreciate all of that. One of the largest concerns that parents raised with me, as acknowledged by the Minister of State, is the waiting list to access CAMHS. Parents can quite easily recognise an eating disorder but trying to access support for it is increasingly frustrating. I have spoken to many parents who have had to try to manage the situation themselves. It is very challenging and frustrating for them. I welcome the Minister of State's efforts to try to reduce those waiting lists in order to get parents and their children the supports they urgently need.”
“Supporting people from an early age with support and resources is important, but that also needs to be continued through their adolescent and post-adolescent years to ensure they can live fulfilling and joyful lives, to which we are all perfectly entitled. An area of mental health about which I wish to speak today is one that was raised repeatedly by many parents, friends, family and young people directly with me while I was working in TU Dublin, namely, the issue of eating disorders. A report of the Health Research Board found that up to 25% of hospital admissions for under-18s related to such illnesses. That is how prevalent it is. It is, unfortunately, one of the mental health illnesses that can be terminal. It has one of the highest terminal rates and, therefore, is a very serious disease and not one to be treated lightly.”
“Finally, I thank my husband, Colm, who has always been a constant supporter and advocate for me. Before I was elected, I was a lecturer in TU Dublin, and, therefore, I have been working with young people on a day-to-day basis for the past number of years. As a result, I have seen at first hand the importance of mental health to both personal and professional success. I have also seen, unfortunately, over the past number of years the continuing legacy of Covid-19 among our young people. It is why the issue of mental health among young people is something that is particularly important to me.”
“As this is my first time addressing the Dáil, I beg the indulgence of the Ceann Comhairle before I move to the substantive statement of the day. First, I thank the people of Dublin-Rathdown for their confidence in electing me to this Dáil. I thank in particular the residents of Clonskeagh, Kilmacud, Stillorgan, Mount Merrion, Leopardstown, Foxrock and Cabinteely who supported me not only in the general election but also in the local elections held earlier in the year. I also thank my friends, family and supporters who campaigned with me through two elections and all types of weather. I could not have done it without them. I specifically thank the former Minister, Josepha Madigan, in whose footsteps I am following here today. She was very much a mentor to me throughout all my elected years.”