Peadar Tóibín
Meath West · Aontú · Ireland
“Lonely Planet. It did a review of Dublin and stated, "Once Dublin’s grand boulevard, O'Connell St has struggled with decline". It stated that vacant buildings, derelict upper floors and long-stalled redevelopments leave this part looking neglected while retail has shifted elsewhere and been replaced by fast food shops that dilute its char…”
“The Irish people are a generous and decent people and have been over the past number of years, with the provision of supports to people from Ukraine who are fleeing the war. This is right and just. The war unleashed on Ukraine is absolutely wrong. Aontú will support the reduction in the rate of payment under the scheme.”
“I am very disappointed to see that the Government, the Social Democrats, the Labour Party, the Green Party and People Before Profit will vote against an amendment that wants to means test the payment, as an amendment also did on the previous occasion, and put it on a level footing with other housing assistance payments.”
“Landlords are rational and they will make economic decisions to best suit themselves. Landlords have been more inclined to take on Ukrainian tenants over Irish tenants in recent years. This system is discriminatory. It gives an advantage to guests in the country over the people who have lived here for most of their lives.”
“Anyone who sat the leaving certificate economics paper just a few weeks ago will know that demand also has a role. It determines what rents are, the price of houses, etc. It is physics and maths and not ideology. We need to get to a situation where we equalise supply with demand.”
“A global study by TomTom indicated that it is the 38th most congested city globally, behind cities such as London, Toronto and Rome. The task force indicated that the Cork Luas system would be built. That Luas system is in planning and that planning is taking a long while.”
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“Aontú believes that we, as a people, should do our best to try to provide help to those who are fleeing war and violence. We believe there are many people in Ireland who are migrants who are making a valuable contribution to our country and our society. They are essential in many sectors and this country would not function properly only for those individuals. We also believe that when a person is here legally, they should be treated with respect, and that the colour of a person's skin is of no more significance than the colour of their eyes. Six years ago we in Aontú called for a respectful conversation about the issue of immigration in this country. We were slammed by every single other political party in the Dáil at the time. Every party accused us of damaging the cohesion of the country.”
“Is it any wonder there is a collapse in farm incomes and numbers in this country when the Government is acting against the best interests of farmers?”
“Some 1,400 farmers are leaving agriculture on an annual basis, with 8,400 farmers having left since Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael got together back in 2020. Another 5,600 will have disappeared from the land by the time this Government is finished. That is the stark reality facing farmers at the moment. The Mercosur deal is simply going to accelerate that process. Farm incomes will be lower, there will be rural depopulation and the food security of this country will also be threatened. The idea that we have Mr. Murrin importing beef that would likely fail the standards Bord Bia is using to audit farmers across the country is incredible. This week, we in Aontú found out that the Department of education is paying for food under the schools food programme that is coming from Brazil.”
“The script the Taoiseach read out has no relation at all to the reality for farmers. If the backbenchers ever manage to overthrow him, I think there is a Booker Prize for fiction in him when he retires.”
“There were people disqualified in those years who had already been disqualified twice. They were driving and they were disqualified, they were driving again and were disqualified again, and they were driving yet again and were disqualified yet again. What difference does the bloody legislation mean at all if the Government will not put in place the number of gardaí that is necessary? Garda numbers have fallen significantly in the last number of years. There has been a 40% fall in the number of traffic gardaí and behaviours are changing as a result.”
“The day after the Government announced the legislation on scramblers, we are in limbo as to whether or not anybody can be pursued for it. That is a really significant problem in. If a garda does pursue and someone dies, they could be brought before Fiosrú. They could be stood down. They could find themselves in a civil court defending the fact they pursued without any training. Those gardaí have the same licences the Minister of State has in terms of pursuit. The Minister of State will be embarrassed by the figures I am going to read out now. Figures show that between 2021 and 2024, 32,700 drivers were disqualified. Of those, a third did not even have a bloody licence, an incredible situation. Of the 21,000 who did have a licence, only 5,000 bothered to surrender them afterwards to the people they were meant to surrender them to.”
“Road safety is not being taken seriously by this Government; that is a fact. We have all the legislation but no enforcement. Legislation does not mean tuppenny damn if we do not enforce it. Let us consider the new legislation the Government's bought in yesterday for scramblers. I have spoken to representatives of the Garda. They say gardaí do not have the ability or the right to pursue an individual on a scrambler. The press statement put out yesterday said that there will be pursuit of individual scramblers. Gardaí are not trained to do it. One of the most dangerous things they can do is pursue somebody in a particular situation like this. There has been no discussion with the Garda representative organisations on this at all.”
“A woman from Limerick has a 15% lower chance of survival than a person from Cavan in relation to breast cancer because of the differentials geographically on survival rates. If you go to a public hospital, you have a 12% less chance of survival than if you go to a private hospital. In Britain, for example, you are 5% more likely to survive breast cancer. This is not good enough. We need to make sure every single patient is treated fairly across the geographic and demographic spaces in this country.”
“Today is World Cancer Day. I am a cancer survivor. I am lucky. I am in good health. I have seen the improvements in science and medicine which save lives every day. However, I have also seen first hand the fact that the State's health system discriminates against some people who have cancer. I will give the Taoiseach a number of examples. There were a quarter of a million fewer people who had cervical, bowel or breast screening in 2020 than in 2019, and we have still not caught up with the number of people who missed out on screening at that time. A quarter of all cancer patients at the moment are left waiting for longer than three weeks, even though that is a timescale in which they should achieve radiation therapy if that is what they need in relation to good health.”
“How is it that one of the most inherently dangerous things a garda can do, that is, pursue in the case of someone fleeing in a vehicle, was too dangerous without training before but it is not too dangerous now?”
“The death of Grace Lynch as a result of a scrambler was a shocking loss of life. It was shocking to her family, friends and community. We welcome the legislation that was brought before Cabinet today. However, there is an issue in relation to enforcement. Incredibly, gardaí are currently not trained to pursue a person on a scrambler or electric scooter. At the moment, there is no legal protection for them if they pursue. They could be stood down from their job or subject to a civil court case or Fiosrú investigation. Will the gardaí be given the training to be able to pursue individuals on scramblers? I see in the press statements today that there is an ability to pursue but this is not agreed with the gardaí. I have spoken to gardaí today and there is no agreement in that regard.”
“We have seen multiple cases in recent times where children have gone missing from care, where Tusla did not know where they are, where children were killed while under the care of Tusla, and where a child was raped under the care of Tusla. There are horrendous details in the report. One case involved a mother who was sold to a man who sexually abused her. She was found with her baby on the side of the road by a passer-by who called the Garda. We in Aontú have consistently raised these issues, particularly about the number of children not assigned a social worker. We have also been very outspoken on the scandal of human trafficking in this country. For a long time, I have been the only voice in the Dáil raising these issues. This has to change. We need a full debate about the crisis in Tusla.”
“The free legal aid system is not fit for purpose in how it treats birth mothers. Many of them have long and complex stories to tell. When one of these mothers rings my office I know it will take hours to go through all of the issues she has to discuss. The free legal aid provided is five minutes with a barrister before a court case. We also need to have a strengthening of parental rights, procedural fairness and independent oversight. This is what birth mothers are looking for. I want to talk about the recent report of the Child Law Project. The details of the project are shocking. It is very alarming and very sad. We know we have a crisis in Tusla in terms of child protection.”
“When unaccompanied children do not get allocated a social worker and they do not get allocated a care plan, it is a major difficulty. We also need to do better in legislation for birth mothers in this country. A number of women, and it is primarily women, ring my office to air grievances they have with Tusla. Birth mothers whose children have been taken into care feel aggrieved by the process. There does not seem to be a proper structure of support systems for such mothers. There is no fair means through which they can air their grievances. There are no psychological supports. There is an in camera rule that leaves them terrified to speak about their experiences. In some cases, they are afraid they are breaking the law just by talking to me or to the Garda. They are afraid Tusla will come after the remaining children if they criticise it.”
“This has been the result of Government action. I have huge issues with the Bill and how it deals with separated children, migrant children, young people in aftercare and care leavers. The former Ombudsman for Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon, asked that specific provision be made in the legislation for unaccompanied children. Children who are placed into voluntary care require parental consent for this to happen. Provision must be made for those children who are orphans or who are in this country alone without their parents to ensure their rights are protected in the care system. We cannot continue to accommodate these children under section 5 of the Child Care Act. It is outdated and effectively creates a two-tier system for children's rights.”
“Another report about a girl called Ava under Tusla's care showed how she disclosed sexual abuse but nobody from Tusla spoke to her because in the Tusla area she was in, they assumed a social worker in the area where the alleged abuser lived was speaking to her. She was discharged from CAMHS after a mere two appointments and her body was found a few days later. She was 14 years old. It is welcome that an inter-agency committee is to be set up under the legislation but it has an enormous amount to do. There is little joined-up work happening between various agencies and officials are passing children from Billy to Jack. These children are falling through the cracks and they are being left with no supports, abandoned to the point where I am reading the details of the findings of the inquests of their deaths.”
“There are serious gaps in the level of inter-agency communication and internally between different geographical Tusla units. Certain areas are not communicating with each other at all. These gaps are resulting in the deaths of children. I am thinking of instances where CAMHS has refused to accept children who are referred to it by Tusla simply because CAMHS does not have a policy on accepting children who use drugs or alcohol. Hugh was 16 when he died from a drug overdose after CAMHS told Tusla it would not take him. Niamh was another child under Tusla's care. She died at the age of 15 by suicide. She too was deemed ineligible by CAMHS.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. Vulnerable children have been treated terribly by the State and it is a dark mark against the Government and the previous Government. There are many good things in the Bill. There are bad things there also and I want to go into detail on them. When it comes to child protection and child welfare, there is no doubt we have to get better in terms of inter-agency communication and co-operation. There also needs to be transparency around data. We in Aontú have raised this issue in the Chamber over and over again. We have raised the individual reports produced by the national review panel on the deaths of children in State care. Some of the observations of the national review panel and Dr. Helen Buckley are harrowing.”
“The Government also refused to hold Bord Bia and its chairperson, Larry Murrin, to account. He has the job of promoting Irish food and I understand he is paid just under €200,000 to do it. Instead of that, he is actually importing Brazilian beef. This is a conflict of interest and the fact that the Government’s judgment does not understand that shows it is compromised on this. It is, "Do what I say, not what I do". One third of farmers at the moment are living off the farm. One third are only living off the farm because someone from that farm is working off the farm. One third of farmers are in poverty or going into debt. Every year, the number of farmers is falling in this country. Will the Government listen to the farmers for a change and do as they ask and remove Larry Murrin?”
“Its MEPs voted against farmers last week in Strasbourg. Today, its Minister for agriculture, Deputy Heydon, when I asked him whether he would use his office to stop Mercosur from being implemented before the European courts make a decision, he stated that he would not and that it was another Department's responsibility.”
“The Tánaiste must be embarrassed by the length of time it is taking for the delivery of infrastructure in his area. In terms of the clean up, I know of homes that are not getting sandbags from their communities. Business people I am talking to are still not clear about what exactly is covered in relation to this. Will their earnings be covered? Will it be means tested? People have lost their cars. We have seen cars submerged. They will not be paid for their cars. People feel it is unfair that people from Ukraine had their cars fixed by the Government a year ago and yet these cars will not be fixed in this particular situation. Everybody should be treated equally in this country in relation to fixing of cars. When will the Tánaiste fix these issues?”
“I can remember a long list of Ministers splashing around floods in their top boots for photographs. I can even remember former Minister Joan Burton falling out of a canoe when looking at a flood system. None of this gives any confidence at all to people who are being inundated at the moment. The Tánaiste talks about the critical infrastructure. My problem with the Tánaiste is that he has been here for 15 years yet if we remove the future tense he is silent on delivery. This is an incredible situation. In Clontarf, flood defences will have been 30 years from concept to completion. A scheme in Sandymount was promised 20 years ago but will not be delivered until 2032. Galway was promised works in 2019 but it will 2035 before delivery. These are all with the caveat, "If everything goes well".”
“Met Éireann does not provide flood forecasts to the public. It provides rainfall forecasts that do not give a full picture in terms of ground saturation. There are no real-time weather stations recording rainfall in mountain areas and in the catchment areas of the major rivers. The national flood forecast and warning service was announced in 2016, yet ten years later none of these flood forecasts are being made available to the public. Councils know this information and people will get it but only if they ask the councils what is happening. I believe that the glacial pace of infrastructural delivery in this country is costing lives and is costing people dearly. Will the Tánaiste detail today when the outstanding flood defences that are promised will be delivered?”
“This week Enniscorthy is a lake. There have been 12 floods in 25 years and planning permission for these flood defences has still not been granted. Practically every single piece of infrastructure development in this country is grinding to a halt. Housing is in reverse. It will be 2050 before Uisce Éireann has the gaps in the infrastructure filled. The grid cannot take the renewable energy that is created at the moment. Commuters are sitting on motorways that look like car parks. Tens of thousands of families are currently at risk due to flooding because those defences are not in place. Why? It is because the Tánaiste's Government has the slowest planning, licensing, permitting, tendering and judicial reviews in the whole of the European Union. Flood forecasting too has been incredibly slow.”
“People came within a hair's breadth of losing their lives in Midleton. The damage was unprecedented but was not unforeseen because Storm Frank had devastated the exact same area in 2015. In 2015, flood defences were promised, with a completion date of 2020. Today the planning application for those flood defences has still not even been submitted to Cork County Council. It is an incredible situation. When it rains in Midleton, an elderly gentleman often stays awake at night to watch the height of the river in order to be able to warn families of impending danger. Eleven years after Storm Frank, Midleton is dependent on a human water gauge for the protection of lives under the Tánaiste's Government. Enniscorthy has been waiting 25 years for protection. In 2014, €55 million was allocated to flood relief schemes in Enniscorthy.”
“Much of the country is inundated with floodwater at the moment. The Government cannot control the weather, but it can control the delivery of flood defences and the forecasting systems that can protect people in this country. In those two areas, the Government has been a disaster. Two years ago, I asked the Minister for public expenditure the timeframes for the delivery of flood defence schemes in the country. He did not give an answer. Government Ministers are allergic to measurables in case they can be held to account. The Minister told me there were 46 schemes at the design stage at that time. Let us look at a couple of those. In Midleton in 2023, during Storm Babet, 600 homes and 300 businesses were flooded. The damage was estimated at €200 million, which is incredible.”
“The Minister said he has been very clear but I still do not know what he, as Minister, is going to do to prevent Mercosur being implemented before there is a court judgment or a final vote in the European Parliament.”
“The problem is that anybody can pick an individual year and say, "This year is above the previous year." The fact is that in the previous year Irish farm incomes were extremely low. In the beef sector they were a fraction of the average industrial wage in this country. Most beef farmers in this country were making a fraction of the average industrial wage two years ago. Plucking last year as an example of movement in income does not give a long-term trend with regard to the figures. The figure I mentioned, that one third of farmers are in poverty or in debt, is a Teagasc figure. One third of farmers are operating in another job off the farm to be able to make sure the farm works. That is a Teagasc figure.”
“Incredibly, MEPs in the Minister’s party voted against farmers in Strasbourg last week, which is shocking. Is it going to be a situation where the Minister makes sure this deal is not implemented unless it gets the democratic assent of Europe, or is he going to allow this deal to be implemented before there is even a proper vote or judgment on it?”
“The Minister talks about resilience. A third of farmers are making their living off the farm, according to Teagasc, a third are only making a living because someone in the household is working off the farm, and a full third are currently either going into debt or are in poverty. That is an incredible figure. Every year, the number of farmers is reducing in this country. The Minister is saying there will be an extra reduction in employment as a result of this particular deal, and he refers to a €55 million reduction in income in the sector over this period of time. That is catastrophic for farmers, who are already clinging on to economic survival. Last week, my colleague, Deputy Paul Lawless, was in Strasbourg lobbying MEPs. Luckily, he and others won the vote there.”
“We all know that Mercosur will have a significantly detrimental effect on farmers throughout the country. The Minister mentioned the headline figures for the damage it will do to the sector. What kind of modelling and research has the Department done in relation to the downward pressure it will have on farmers’ incomes and the loss of jobs that Mercosur, if implemented, will create in the sector?”
“There should be no payment given to any group of people in this country that is not available to Irish citizens as well. It is a threat to social cohesion if the Government continues what is doing in that regard. The Navan to Dublin rail line was built in three years in the 1860s by workers using picks and shovels. The new project in that regard is going to take 42 years, from concept to completion, and that will be if no judicial review takes place. It is really important that the Government gets its act together in the context of infrastructural development.”
“Leo Varadkar said that the national children's hospital would be built for €700 million by 2020, save for an asteroid hitting the planet. The cost is now €2.4 billion and the hospital has still not opened. Midleton has been waiting for flood defences for 14 years. In the 14 years since the Government promised flood defences for Midleton, a planning application has not been submitted to Cork County Council. On the news over the past number of hours, we have seen the number of areas that have been hammered by flooding. The Government is refusing to pay for the damage done to cars. It is refusing to pay for the infrastructure and for the damage done to cars. That is really hard for people to take, given the Government funded the fixing of cars for people from Ukraine in the past year.”
“This Government is the worst in the history of the State when it comes to the delivery of infrastructure. In practically every infrastructural space, its projects are either grinding to a halt or going way over budget. For ten years, under this Government, Ireland was at the very bottom of European spending on infrastructure per capita . That is incredible. It is really hard to listen to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs line up to complain about the infrastructural deficits in this country when it is their Government who has actually caused those deficits. Housing is in tatters, and misery is being visited upon young families as a result. It will be 2050 before Uisce Éireann fills the gaps that are currently stopping the building of homes.”
“There is a lot that can be done but I do not believe the Government means business in terms of older people in this country.”
“If you want to know what the Government values, watch where the money goes. I will say that there is a significant problem, which has been mentioned before, with the lack of home care hours. That has the effect of forcing older people into nursing homes, which usually shortens their lives somewhat. It is also more expensive for the family and the State. Another major problem, because of the lack of the proper resourcing of this, is that so many nursing home hours fall. There are old people around this country today who expected to have a carer in at 5 p.m. to help them with their dinner or to help them to get ready for the evening. Those carers did not show up. Those nursing home companies did not provide them. No shows are happening at a rate right across the country and this is having a significant impact.”
“Actually, two people have been clinically discharged for more than two years and are stuck in a hospital for the want of a step-down facility, a nursing home or home care. In terms of home care, so many of the people who do home care in this country do the most wonderful work. It is actually incredibly hard work. If anyone has cared, they will know it is really hard, intense and difficult work but it is fiercely rewarding as well. In this country, though, we do not match really important work with income. Those who mind our children, our older people and children in State care are among the lowest paid in the country. We will give plaudits and patronising conversations here all day long but we will not pay the same people who are looking after our mothers and fathers and that is quite something.”
“The ombudsman for older people has cried out and urged the Government to do this. It is a necessity to do this. I think it is really important. Turning to another issue in terms of older people, I got an answer to a parliamentary question recently that showed 100 patients in the country still occupying beds two months after they had been clinically discharged. Two months after the doctors said they could do no more for people in hospitals and they should be somewhere else, either at home, in a rehabilitation centre or some step-down facility, 100 patients are still occupying those beds. That is not on. We found out, shockingly, that 12 of these individuals have been stuck in hospital for more than nine months.”
“There is a constituent in my county called Mary Bartley Meehan. Mary had a husband and a son in a nursing home at the time. Unfortunately, her husband, Ultan Meehan, had cancer in the face and wounds in the face. So badly was he treated that when Mary went in to see her husband, there were maggots in the wound of Ultan's face. It was a shocking situation. It is an absolute disgrace that Ultan died and Mary has never received justice for the treatment or death of Ultan. Why? It is because HIQA does not have the right to regulate and oversee the clinical decisions in nursing homes. If the Minister is seeking to really update the legislation in terms of protecting older people, can I urge the Minister to give somebody the opportunity to regulate and oversee the clinical decisions made in nursing homes?”
“Of all the deaths that happened during Covid, 27% happened in nursing homes. The nursing homes were the ground zero of the Covid crisis and the most exposed place during the Covid crisis. One of the real angers people throughout the country have at the moment is that most Governments internationally have had fully public inquiries with the powers to compel people and papers. This Government did not do that. It resisted it. All it is having instead is a review, one where there is not the power to compel people and papers. It is not being held in public. I have no confidence in that review. I believe it is likely to be a whitewash. I believe this Government does not want to have an investigation into its own actions during Covid, and that is a big problem. I will just give one example.”
“We also know that when the nursing homes tried to close first, the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, said they could not and had to reopen and allow people in and out of the nursing homes, again seeding Covid in those nursing homes. When people were dying in those nursing homes on their own, the Government had a policy of not letting their families in to be with them when they died. Hundreds of people died on their own in solitary confinement in this country during that time. It was an incredible injustice to them. Even when those people died, their families were often prevented from even attending their funerals. Supplies of oxygen for nursing homes were actually taken, intercepted by the HSE, and stopped going into the nursing homes. Testing was inadequate. In the end, about 2,300 people died in those nursing homes.”
“This Government has significantly neglected older people for many years. We saw during the Covid crisis the number of older people who were moved out of hospitals and into nursing homes were in their thousands. It happened all of a sudden. It happened on the direction of the HSE and it had the effect of bringing older people from hospitals, without testing them properly for Covid, and placing them into nursing homes. It seeded Covid in nursing homes throughout the country. It led to hundreds of deaths, no doubt. I have a letter from the National Treatment Purchase Fund which proves this was a policy of the HSE at the time. It was a shocking, horrendous action.”
“Heavy-handed transport policies have significantly reduced footfall because of the lack of public transport. When will the Government invest in Dublin? When will it make parts of Dublin, especially the central core, safe again for people?”
“Let us be honest: many parts of this great capital are now in decline. Moore Street, one of the most important battlefield sites in the country, the headquarters of the 1916 Rising and the ground zero of the independence struggle, was supposed to redeveloped ten years ago in time for the 1916 centenary commemorations. Maybe the bicentenary will be a better timescale for the Taoiseach's Government to do anything in relation to Moore Street. Instead of being a cultural or historic quarter, Moore Street is now a location for drinking, drugs, defecation and urination. Many parts of O'Connell Street, our main street, are in serious decay. It is the location for crime and antisocial behaviour, with many people now uncomfortable being on O'Connell Street at night. Dereliction is rife in many parts of the city.”
“Will the Government tell Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael MEPs to vote to send this deal to the ECJ? Does the Taoiseach have any control over them at all?”
“My Aontú colleagues, Deputy Paul Lawless and Melissa Byrne, are in Strasbourg today lobbying MEPs to vote to send the Mercosur deal to the European Court of Justice. Our team has spoken to dozens of MEPs. A referral to the ECJ would legally freeze the agreement and allow for proper scrutiny of its environmental, competition and legal implications. While the Taoiseach's Government says that it is opposed to the deal, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil MEPs will nonetheless support the deal and hammer Irish farmers. Barry Andrews and Regina Doherty need to be reined in. Is the Taoiseach going to speak to them? This vote could be tight so why is it that only Opposition parties like Aontú and organisations such as the IFA are doing the heavy lifting on this in advance of tomorrow's vote? Where is the Government in lobbying these MEPs?”
“They are substituting the real beneficial action to citizens for virtue signalling that makes absolutely no difference. We need to get strong but we need to do it with legislation.”
“Regarding the nudification tools, there are nudification tools provided by Grok, Merlio AI, SoulGen, Nudify-Online, Undress AI, DreamGF, deepnude-cc, Promptchan.ai and Candy AI. They are all should be criminally banned. The Wan video generation tool was developed by the Chinese giant Alibaba. It is completely unmoderated. The users are free to upload a photo of anyone at any age and generate any AI video they want. This is a disgrace. ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, offers its own unmoderated video generation tool which also allows users to generate nudification images for a small fee, completely unmoderated. This should also be banned. Why is there no focus on these companies as well? Any legislator that stops using X but does not use their legislative power to ban these tools is not doing their job.”
“Hardcore pornography distorts the minds of children, it leads to horrific violence against women and it leads to rape and murder. Yet, we have very little support for this Bill in this House. All we received from the Government is shrugs and measured tones in response. There is a subsidiary of Pornhub that operates in Dublin as part of the Government's foreign direct investment policy. It pays corporation tax to the State. Pornhub provides hardcore pornographic materiel to children without checking their age. There is a US lawsuit against Pornhub alleging the distribution of child pornography yet, as far as I can see from this Government, it is ignored. Aontú is currently drafting a Bill that will see smart phones for children under the age of 16 banned. The damage these screens are doing to our children is incredible.”
“Aontú is a long-term critic of AI and its gross under-regulation in this country. We were the first party to call for an Oireachtas committee on AI. We believe there should be far stricter democratic oversight of AI. There is little regulation if we are honest and that is because a lot of governments are afraid to stand up to the oligarchs who own the technology. In many ways, AI, like nuclear power, can be used for good but for sure it can be used for serious damage. However, imagine the damage nuclear power would cause if it was not regulated properly. I want to speak to the Grok crisis this week. We, as a party, have drafted Bills previously to ban the provision of hardcore pornographic materiel to children. We regularly provide evidence to this Dáil of the damage of that material to young minds.”