Malcolm Byrne
Wicklow-Wexford · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“I appreciate the Minister of State is responding on behalf of the Minister but the response provides nothing new. It is almost a carbon copy of the response I received when I raised this issue in January last.”
“Free and fair trade right throughout history is the greatest example of providing people with employment opportunities and lifting people out of poverty. One of the best examples of this is our being able to trade with Canada.”
“I am sure the Ceann Comhairle will remember being approached by the then principal, staff and others. Pressure has been applied. When capital decisions were being made by the Department of education I asked why this school was not included and what criteria were used.”
“To say that the school, and indeed, the wider area are deeply frustrated by the lack of progress is an understatement. This is an excellent school, but when it comes to its physical infrastructure, the school is in dire straits.”
“As we are moving towards the recess, I thank the Ceann Comhairle, and indeed, the officials in her office and all of the staff across the House for all of their work during the year that has made this place run so smoothly. I wish to raise the question of Bunclody Community College. I have had to do it on a number of occasions.”
“I am conscious the Minister of State referred to additional capital investment in 2027. I fully expect and will continue to campaign to ensure this school is included in the 2027 capital list because it deserved to be addressed before now.”
The complete record
Every one of 711 lines we hold for Malcolm Byrne, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 2 of 15.
“It also has a critical educational role and a role in building public confidence and trust in the use of AI by the State. It is in those very specific objectives that individuals will be appointed to this board, and it is critical they have that level of public trust and understanding. While I get where colleagues are coming from, I am always cautious about being overly prescriptive. This is about the objectives of the office and whether the board will best be able to support the chief executive and staff in achieving that. One thing I am concerned about, which is very important, is the issue of a youth advisory panel to ensure young people are heard in this and can influence the governance structure.”
“I strongly support the approach the Minister of State is taking with regard to a distributed regulatory approach. What we need to do, and colleagues have talked about this, is ensure that our regulators are sufficiently skilled to deal with this. This cannot be another layer - a supra layer - of regulation on top of existing regulation. By that I mean that someone developing a financial product at present just has to go to the Central Bank for regulation, so if it is an AI-enabled product, the Central Bank should have sufficient regulatory power to be able to deal with this. Where there are gaps between those regulators, this office needs to be able to step in. This is where I think the role of the AI office lies. It is a co-ordinating role between our existing regulators.”
“I believe we will be constantly legislating for and examining this space, but the Minister of State in her response has to talk about how we as legislators will be able to have an input. I am very aware the technology is moving quickly. I appreciate we have to get the office up and running. I welcome the fact that the recruitment process for the CEO is ongoing and the Minister of State might update the House as to how that is happening. Specifically on the amendments, when we talk about the board of any organisation, the most important thing is what the purpose of this organisation is and, therefore, who the best people to sit on that board are. I am always cautious about being overly prescriptive about the membership of the board. What is critical is that this AI office best serves our citizens.”
“We want to support innovation, deepen our understanding of AI, upskill our citizens to be able to avail of and use it, and put in the necessary guardrails to ensure that we can continue to "trust" our institutions but also know that the institutions have the safeguards in place to protect us. Given the nature and importance of the discussion, I would share colleagues' concern that there was insufficient time to consider amendments. Given some of the discussion that we are going through here in a two-hour period, I believe it will be relatively short, particularly because we will only get through discussion of the overall board of this body. That is a bit of a problem.”
“I commend the Minister of State on bringing the Bill to this Stage. Before I speak to the specific amendments, which are around the governance and the board structure, it is important that there has been general collaboration, both at the AI committee and, even more generally, around what we want to achieve with this transformational technology, because what we are debating and talking about here does not impact on merely one Department. It is impacting on virtually all areas of society. On the collaborative cross-party approach, we will not agree on every issue but I think we agree in general on the principles and about what we want to achieve as a State.”
“As part of his visit, the Taoiseach visited Villanova University, a critical university in terms of Irish athletics. For the past number of years, I have had an intern from Villanova working with me. Part of the success has been around the exchanges that have happened over many years. There had been a threat to the Fulbright programme. I am glad to say it is back on schedule. Recently, as the Taoiseach knows, the de Chastelain programme allowed for exchanges with Canada. I hope we can continue to build long-term relationships with the likes of the Fulbright and de Chastelain programmes. Would the Taoiseach consider extending some of the programmes to second level schools in the same way as schools in Ireland can exchange with European schools under the Erasmus programme? I refer to extending the possibilities to North America as well.”
“The message that has to go out there is about how Ireland will balance support for innovation on the one hand with safe regulation on the other, and that this office will be an enabling one rather than an office that will seek to shut down the possibilities that AI provides.”
“It should be put on a statutory basis that we have a children and young people's advisory panel and that they are very specifically identified as a vulnerable group but also people who are going to be very engaged with this technology. I ask that on Committee Stage there would be statutory provision for such a panel in the same way as we have seen with some other bodies. I welcome the definitions in respect of the chief executive. I understand recruitment for the role is under way at the moment. On the appointment of whomever that individual will be, he or she will, in many ways, set the direction for this body. I appreciate the Minister of State will have certain roles in being able to direct how the office is going.”
“I welcome the provisions around the regulatory sandboxes but how this will enable businesses to safely use AI, certainly in respect of the educational role and the whole area of what I would call AI fluency, is essential. There is one thing I would like to see in this. The Minister of State knows that when she worked with me in the context of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act, we provided, when Coimisiún na Meán was being established, that there would be a children and young people's advisory panel. That was established. The Minister of State knows that it worked very successfully as well with the Ombudsman for Children's Office. I think it is critical within this legislation.”
“There is sector-specific expertise within all of our existing regulators and it needs to be supported to be able to ensure - for instance, if it is the Central Bank and it is dealing with a financial product but in these circumstances it is an AI-designed financial product - that it can regulate it in the same way as every other financial product. The legislation is quite silent on this and the Minister of State might respond on it, but that requires ensuring that those regulators and those who are identified within this legislation are adequately resourced both in terms of cash and, more importantly, personnel. That needs to be addressed. In regard to some of the functions, it needs to be seen more as enabling.”
“I welcome this Bill and I thank the Minister of State and her officials for the work on it. I note that there was a fairly tight timeframe for amendments so I hope, on Committee Stage, there will be consideration of some of the issues here. While I commend the Minister of State on her understanding of the implications of AI right across society, I am concerned that there are certain Departments that have not yet got sufficiently up to speed and are not sufficiently invested in this area. To speak specifically to the Bill, I welcome the fact that the AI office is, in a sense, positioning itself as a key hub and that it is going to be regarded not as a "thou shalt not" regulator but as an enabling body. I certainly welcome the distributed regulatory model that is proposed within this legislation.”
“When it comes to making decisions on overseas development aid, we should include a requirement that citizens are respected, regardless of who they love or are purported to love. The European Union must be a union of values as well as interests. I certainly believe that we are now seeing progress in Hungary where we had seen a lot of discrimination against members of the LGBT community. For countries on the accession pathway, these values also need to be very clearly communicated. I welcome that the Pride parade in Kyiv last weekend was ten times larger than normal. There is in Ukraine a recognition that the country needs to adhere to the value of inclusiveness. As others have said, this is a republic and we are judged by how we treat all of our citizens. For those who are LGBTQ, identify as LGBTQ or are our allies, I say "Happy Pride".”
“While we are fortunate in this country that we have come so far, we need to look at what continues to go on around the world. It is abhorrent that there are still countries where same-sex relations are illegal, even where there is an assumption that one has a same-sex attraction. Not only that but there are also countries where same-sex relations remain punishable by death. We have a moral obligation to continue to call out those countries. They include Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and other parts of the world, including a number of regions in Nigeria where Sharia law is implemented. With regard to our foreign policy, I commend the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.”
“Meta is not taking sufficient action. Facebook used to be very much a community space for those who identified as LGBT to be able to come together. We are now seeing hate, particularly homophobia, discrimination and racism, being amplified. In the last year or two, in every single case where I have reported hate as being against the community guidelines that are set out, Facebook is upholding the content. There has to be a challenge made to Meta. If Facebook is taking part in the Pride parade in Dublin this weekend, it needs to look at itself and ask what it is doing as a company to be able to tackle this. Facebook, which was always an inclusive and welcoming space, has now gone nearly as bad as X in terms of fostering division and hatred.”
“I was at Gorey Library this week where, flying proudly outside the library, as indeed it is outside many libraries, is the Pride flag. It has a lot of books celebrating that and ensuring our libraries are inclusive spaces. When I look at all that progress I wonder if we still need to discuss and raise these issues. I am certain, even hearing some of the comments in the House today, that we do. I have no intention of pulling up the ladder on my trans brothers and sisters. We still have a long way to go, particularly in areas like trans healthcare. There is a responsibility on those who have been on our own journey to be supportive of those who still feel that the State is not recognising their needs or being sufficiently supportive. Reference has been made to social media. I am deeply concerned about Facebook.”
“Now, we have a cross-party equality caucus here in Leinster House. I pay tribute to the leadership of the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, in that regard. In many ways, it is now unremarkable that we have so many Members of these Houses who identify as LGBT or as allies and no one really passes many remarks on it. I also see this in my local community, in the likes of The Vault youth centre in Arklow, the Gorey Youth Needs group and FDYS in Gorey, all of which have LGBT support groups. I pay particular tribute to Creagh College, which has done an incredible amount of work with the LGBTQ allies' support group in the school. The school has now achieved the Belong To quality mark. Incredible work has been done by the teachers and students to ensure the school is an inclusive environment. So many schools are doing that.”
“I often wonder why are we having these statements on Pride? I reflect in many ways on my own political journey and I remember that, as a student and young person, I saw Máire Geoghegan-Quinn decriminalise homosexuality. As someone who was very closeted at the time, that had a big impact on me in terms of challenging my own thinking. My experience, even though I never hid my sexuality, was that I ended up being outed by the media in 2006. What struck home to me about that was the support I got from family, friends and my local community. I knew the real Ireland that existed then. In 2012, at the Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis, we became the second party to support marriage equality and, interestingly, the first to support same-sex adoption at the time. There was the joyous occasion of the marriage equality referendum in 2015.”
“As I understand it, it is proposed that the Government is going to proceed with a ban on access to social media apps for those under 16. While I am agnostic about this because the evidence is quite mixed as to its effectiveness, particularly regarding the ability of young people to get around such bans, it will not be effective on its own unless there is a major programme of education. I believe it is critical that instead of focusing on and placing all the pressure on children and young people, we instead look at placing a greater digital duty of care on the tech companies. In any consideration, however, I ask that the views of children and young people be taken into account and that there be engagement with children and young people and their representatives.”
“I wish the Taoiseach well during the time of the Presidency of the EU Council. When I submitted a parliamentary question to the Department of enterprise on a domestic issue, where I did not get a satisfactory response, the Department said that was due to competing work priorities, including the upcoming Presidency of the European Union. Given that in response to other parliamentary questions, 300 additional staff have been hired across all Departments for the EU Presidency, how can we ensure that the focus of the Government remains on domestic issues?”
“If members of my family want to make sure it is actually me they are talking to, they could ask me for the family safe word. Do we need to start looking at public information campaigns in that regard? I encourage the Minister of State to work on building an awareness of our digital identities. Citizens do not necessarily need to have recourse to all the legislative provisions she listed but they need to know why their digital identity is important and that sanctions will be imposed on those who, for malign purposes, seek to misuse another's digital identity. I very much thank the Minister of State for accepting the legislation. I look forward to engaging further as it progresses.”
“I am not precious as to which exact legislation is progressed but it is clear that what we have currently is not strong enough. I recognise there will be challenges regarding extraterritoriality and all of that but there is an obligation on us to be able to protect people right now. It is critical that we take action on this. In the same way as there was a campaign regarding the misuse of intimate images, we need to start talking about protection of digital identity and how people can protect their own voice, image and likeness. We need a dedicated campaign about copyright both specifically for the creative industries and more widely. My view is that when people are having digital family conversations, they will have to introduce family safe words.”
“If we have been successful in that regard, why then, as part of our EU Presidency agenda, have we said that online safety is one of Ireland's top priorities? Clearly, it persists as a challenge and a problem. As Deputy Ó Cearúil mentioned, this legislation was introduced before the arrival of Grok and so on. Those developments are impacting on society in many different ways. Our first obligation as legislators is to ensure the safety of our citizens, in the online space as much as in the offline space. We are going to see the misuse of digital identities grow in a whole variety of ways. While I am really appreciative of the Government's decision to allow this legislation to progress, I ask that there be movement to address these issues.”
“A lot of the work that was put into that legislation was quite far-reaching, including the setting up of the Office of the Online Safety Commissioner. One of the concerns I had was that we were not taking strong enough action against some of the technology companies when they failed to take action. It was always my view that where a provider wilfully or recklessly allows an online harm to go out on a platform, there should be consequences and individuals should be held responsible. The problem, as the Minister of State mentioned, is that a lot of technology companies will just write off significant financial sanctions as business costs. I do not accept and never did accept that provision for non-compliance leading to criminal sanction is strong enough within existing legislation.”
“There probably are not many people who have read the entire regulation and know it inside out but, overwhelmingly, people do know that they must not use the data of others for any purpose save that for which they have expressly given permission. We need to move to thinking in the same way about digital identities, namely, that people cannot misuse another person's identity and voice for malign purpose. We certainly need to protect freedom of expression in the context of satire and so on but this legislation deals very specifically with cases where such usage is for malign purposes and in, many cases, for particular gain. I spent many hours dealing with the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill, both as a member of the media committee and a Member of the Seanad at the time.”
“Our challenge is that we need to shift to a situation where we enforce a digital duty of care on technology companies such that they have consideration, before they allow products onto the market, as to how those products may be used. If they are misused, there must be the capability to take action. AI has incredible potential and I am a huge advocate of it as a tool to achieve particular goals. However, we know the consequences of its misuse, which include fraud, theft of intellectual property, which is a big issue for creatives, and suicide. We all need to understand our digital identity and what it means. Talking about Coco's Law reminds me of one of the successes of the GDPR.”
“However, Coco's Law, and the public information campaign that followed, was so successful because while people do not necessarily need to know the detail of the legislation, it is fairly certain that most people in Ireland now know not to use intimate images of others without their permission. We need to get to a situation where there is an awareness in society that we should not use somebody's voice, image or likeness in a malign way without that person's permission. We might think that should be obvious but, unfortunately, it is not. In order to enforce that, we need to have criminal sanctions in place. As Deputy Ó Snodaigh said, the legislation is not a silver bullet. A broader series of measures must be in place.”
“I thank Deputies Ó Snodaigh and Ó Cearúil and the Minister of State for their contributions and their support. The Minister of State outlined the current legislative provision in this area but the reality is it is not working. If the legislation were working, we would not be seeing the proliferation of deepfakes and other continuing problems. While I acknowledge that the jurisdiction of Norwich Pharmacal orders has been extended to the Circuit Court, that is still prohibitive for many people, particularly those who do not understand the justice system. The Minister of State referred to Coco's Law, which came about following the incredible campaigning by Jackie Fox. She was often told there was legislation already in place to deal with much of what she was seeking.”
“There are incredible, amazing creative possibilities in the use of AI and new technology but we also have to guard against harms. This is about protecting our own digital identity and protecting all of us, as citizens and consumers. For those in the creative industries, we need to protect their right to their voice, their expression and their identity against misuse. I urge the Minister of State to move with legislation in this area as quickly as possible.”
“These actions must be done without the individual's permission - if it is done with the individual's permission, it is not intended to be an offence - and with the intend to cause harm or to be reckless. As I said, I am perfectly happy for the legislation to be amended and addressed on Committee Stage. I am open to that. This issue has come up time and again on both the artificial intelligence committee and the media committee. There is an urgency about being able to address this. We know Members of this House have seen their image associated with products they have nothing to do with. We have seen prominent journalists and economist purporting to sell things. We all think we are smart enough and we will not fall for it, but we know that people are so doing.”
“What the Bill seeks to do is to make it an offence where someone knowingly uses or infringes upon the use of an individual's name, photograph, voice or likeness by publishing, performing, distributing, transmitting or otherwise making it available to the public in any medium for the purposes of advertising products, events, political activities, merchandise, goods or services or for the purposes of fundraising, the solicitation of donations, the purchase of products, merchandised goods and services or to influence elections or referendums. Equally, it will make it an offence to distribute, transmit or otherwise make available on any algorithm, software tool or other technology, the primary purpose of which is the production of an individual's photograph, voice or likeness.”
“As we see artificial intelligence develop so rapidly, the need for legislation in this area has never been as important. We have to remember, even in terms of how we speak in this House, our voice is an intrinsic part of who we are and we have to ensure we do not allow others to use it for the purposes of fraud or to misrepresent us. Technology now exists that allows for our voice or image to be simulated or replicated in such a way that it is believable to others. There are benefits to that and this legislation does not try to prevent that from happening.”
“We know that a lot of streaming services, for instance, are starting to remove deepfakes and so on, but there remains a real difficulty with how we can protect our own digital identity. What this Bill is seeking to do, in protecting our digital identities, is to make it an offence to misuse someone's voice, image or likeness without their permission and for malign purposes. This is not about someone making up a funny meme or anything like that. It is for instances where it is very clear that there are malign purposes involved. We need to start to talk much more about our digital identity. We have done a very good job nationally and at European level in protecting our data rights but our digital identity now also needs to be protected.”
“However, if you receive a telephone call and you think the voice you hear is your mother, father, son, daughter, loved one or somebody close to you, and you act on the basis of that, it can have potentially serious consequences. We have already seen that in other jurisdictions in cases of bank fraud where people use automated means of interaction. This is also a problem for our musicians and artists and others in the creative industry. I am glad that IMRO and Irish Equity are among those who have been raising issues in relation to this. It is important that we listen to those voices that are expressing concerns in this area. What this legislation seeks to do is essential, namely, to protect artists and musicians such that others will not seek to commercially exploit their identity in an unauthorised way.”
“I hosted a meeting with the Irish Recorded Music Association in the audiovisual room here in Leinster House in March. An Irish company, AudioStack, by taking just a couple of moments of my speaking in this House, was able to replicate or synthesise my voice and provide a speech that sounded as if I was delivering it in Leinster House. It was probably far more eloquent than I am, but colleagues who were listening at the time were absolutely convinced that this was the case. While this is a problem that we would be very aware of in a political context, there are concerns if our digital identity is misused in circumstances where it could have a personal impact. We all get dodgy text messages or our parents receive them and ask if they are a scam. Generally, people are getting much better at picking out those text messages.”
“However, another speech was prepared in the event that the moon landing did not go well. What would he have had to deliver to the American people and the globe? Using footage of President Nixon, the museum reconstructed the speech that would have been delivered had the moon landing been unsuccessful. I remember sitting and watching it in the museum, which had been set up like a sitting room from the 1960s. This was not political nerds watching all of this. I was convinced this was Richard Nixon. I thought it was particularly believable. We have obviously seen technology move on in the last decade. We saw deepfakes in the presidential election. They were not great deepfakes and I was surprised by some of the people who had been taken in by them.”
“If not, and it is referred to the justice committee, given the urgency of some of the issues, it is important that the underlying matters are addressed. I first started taking an interest in some of these issues around deepfakes and misuse of our digital identity nearly a decade ago. At the time, people might remember that there were fairly poor deepfakes. There were some deepfakes of Nancy Pelosi slurring her words. They were pale imitations. I went the Museum of the Moving Image in Brooklyn, New York. It was exploring the issue of where deepfakes were going to go. The first mass watched event was the moon landing. It may not be widely known but there were two speeches prepared for President Nixon at the time. The speech he delivered was the speech for a successful moon landing.”
“I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I congratulate the Minister of State on her new role and thank her for taking this Bill. I thank her and the Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, for agreeing to support the Bill and facilitate its movement to Committee Stage. I look forward to working with the Department to address the underlying issues within the Bill. I am happy to consider how we amend it to deal with some of the challenges that new technologies are posing to our digital identify. I am conscious that this is a justice Bill. I know that, procedurally speaking, it is difficult to do but if it were possible for this to be referred to the Committee on Artificial Intelligence, it might work in a more effective way.”
“That is why I am getting it in the neck in my office over the Government's failure to deliver in that area. I am not getting it to the same extent in Gorey, where I am seeing real progress being made by Wexford County Council, as I am sure the Minister of State knows is happening in other parts of the country. I ask the Minister of State to raise the issue directly with the Minister. I want the Department to call in Wicklow County Council and demand to know from it, if it is saying Arklow requires continued engagement and focus, what specific actions the council is undertaking.”
“For those waiting for homes in Arklow and living around south Wicklow, there is no point telling them that there are many more homes being made available in Bray, Gorey or Clare, much as I welcome all of those homes. This is the largest town in the country where we are not seeing any progress on social and affordable homes. I have raised the issue with the Minister but I ask the Minister of State to bring the issue back to him. It needs to be communicated to Wicklow County Council that it needs to prioritise this. The evidence is clear. We are not seeing any social and affordable homes. It is no good talking about it being a priority if we are not seeing progress. I do not know what it is that Wicklow County Council has against Arklow but it does not seem to be prioritising it in the context of the building of social and affordable homes.”
“I thank the Minister of State for the answer. As he knows, I am supportive. There is an extensive programme of building social and affordable homes right around the country. As he acknowledged, Wicklow County Council has been very good in north Wicklow. The key line in the answer the Minister of State gave was about the fact that there are no applications from Arklow. He went on to say that "this is clearly a matter that requires continued engagement and focus". Can the Minister of State name any other town in the country with a population of over 13,000 where a single social or affordable home has not been constructed and where there have been no applications to the Department?”
“Whether it is a matter for the Department or Wicklow County Council, we are just not seeing homes in general being built but I have a particular interest in social and affordable homes. I contrast Arklow with the other main town in my constituency, Gorey, where we regularly see social and affordable schemes developed. In fact, there is another being opened in the town tomorrow by Wexford County Council. Considering that the Government has invested so much in the wastewater infrastructure in Arklow, whose lack was holding everything up, why are we not seeing the necessary social and affordable housing that we were expecting to see there?”
“Not happy with that, I went back to the Department to obtain clarity on what social and affordable housing supports were being made available in Arklow through Wicklow County Council. The Department, in response to a parliamentary question, told me that to date it had not received any applications or plans for new starter home delivery in the local area of Arklow. I am really frustrated about this. Arklow is a town that has been in need of development and housing for a long time. There is a problem with enrolment falling in some of the schools because there are no new families moving into the area. The town is within the commuter zone; it is a very fine town.”
“I asked in November 2025, by way of parliamentary questions, what progress had been seen. It was pointed out in reply that since 2022 Wicklow had 970 households availing of affordable housing supports through the mix of various schemes. I inquired further as to how many of these were in the Arklow area. It was not the case that anything seemed to be happening. I contacted Wicklow County Council, which, in April this year, told me it had a number of schemes in the planning and detailed design stages at Tinahask and Sheephouse in the town, but it stated it is currently awaiting the housing delivery plan from the Government, which will determine the output required throughout the county.”
“He pointed out that the wastewater treatment plant could end up supporting a population of 24,000, with the potential of expanding that up to 36,000. In the 2022 census, Arklow had a population of 13,399, so there is going to be capacity there as a result of the new wastewater treatment plant. The Minister of State knows as well as I do how strong the demand is for housing. In my office on the main street in Arklow, the most common issue that arises is raised by people who are looking for social or affordable housing. It is raised with me on the streets regularly in Arklow, as it is right around the country. We would imagine, after the hold-up for all these years, that suddenly we would start to see a surge of housing, particularly affordable housing.”
“I thank the Minister of State for taking this issue on behalf of the Minister for housing. Arklow is a fine coastal town with Viking heritage but for a long time, its infrastructural development had been held back because of the lack of wastewater capacity. In May of last year, the Taoiseach opened the Arklow wastewater treatment plant, a €139 million project. It was completed six months ahead of schedule and within budget, so it was a good news story. The Taoiseach made clear at that opening the importance of such strategic infrastructure not just in terms of cleaning up the Avoca River and for environmental reasons, but critically to provide housing within the community of Arklow and south Wicklow.”
“The potential of all that is huge and we need to explore it. Sometimes we do not sell our island sufficiently. There is often too much of a focus, dare I say, on Dublin. It is critical, and I have outlined some of the points with regard to the potential of our links with Normandy and Canada. We need to talk about an all-island strategy. That is something I hope the Minister of State will take on board.”
“Developing those links from Arklow out to Shillelagh, even if it is done on a phased basis, is important for people to be able to visit all those wonderful villages right across south Wicklow as well as for the tourism potential we could see for Arklow town. We look at Dungarvan as an example and at how the Waterford greenway has been transformational. Something similar could happen with Arklow. I am a bit frustrated about the slow pace of movement on the greenway. In fairness, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, made money available to Wicklow County Council to progress it. I want to see this as a priority because of the tourism potential for all those villages from Aughrim and Avoca to Tinahely and Shillelagh and on to Carnew, and particularly with those Canadian connections.”
“It is critical, not alone in terms of us fostering our relationships with our nearest EU neighbour, France, particularly with all the ferries coming into Rosslare, for people to be able to explore those Norman links right around the south east. That potential is something we do need to do more about and to exploit and explore. I also want to commend those who are involved in the development of the south Wicklow greenway project. We are aware of the success of greenways right around the country. The south Wicklow one has perhaps been taking a bit longer to get off the ground than many would have liked. I know that the chair, Anthony Murphy, former Councillor John Mullen and, indeed, many people in the local community who are very actively involved in this want to see it up and running.”
“That is, in fact, very much documented in the excellent book "Shoeboxes: From Irish Roots to Canadian Branches" by the late Kevin Lee and Tom Jenkins. Given the tens of thousands of people - there is a greater proportion of Canadians who claim Irish heritage than Americans - I believe it is a market that remains untapped. As colleagues mentioned, next year is also the year of the Normans. While I know there are many who are making claims to Norman heritage, it was from Ferns Castle that the original invitation was sent to invite the Normans to Ireland. Ferns is a wonderful example of a Norman castle. It is very well maintained. Even more importantly, there is a Norman festival that takes place there, which I was involved in recently. There is a wonderful local Ferns village committee.”
“Now that Wexford County Council has a marine area consent licence for the potential development of breakwaters at Courtown harbour, restoring the beach that many of us remember from our childhoods there is critical. The Minister of State will be aware that next year, we are going to be celebrating Canada-Ireland 180, marking 180 years since 1847 when a lot of the connections developed between Ireland and Canada. As we know, Prime Minister Carney is coming here this week. Canada is now our fifth biggest market with over 200,000 people coming here each year but there is potential for a lot more. In the constituency I am proud to represent in south-west Wicklow, many travelled during the middle of the 1800s on assisted famine passage from that area. Over 6,000 men, women and children travelled from south-west Wicklow to Canada.”