Sinéad Gibney
Dublin Rathdown · Social Democrats · Ireland
“Unfortunately, those are still not entirely clear. Although the Windsor Framework did look to enshrine that policy of no diminution of rights and the non-divergence of rights on either side of the Border, that has not been clear in how it is going to play out.”
“I want to raise one specific sector. Within my portfolio, the culture sector is a good example of where we could see a much better offering in the joining together of the two economic activities. For example, we have a very vibrant production sector for film and television.”
“The other word that is important to bring into any economic discussion and fiscal discussion around a united Ireland is "holistic" because, unfortunately at times, I see the Government looking at the economy as a discrete part of society and neglecting things that fall outside of economic discussion, economic imperatives, and policymaking…”
“There are ways that we can see how our governance of this jurisdiction can be improved simply by the opportunities that will be presented by opening up constitutional change and the discussions that we are all going to have about how we govern ourselves right now and how we may govern an entire island of Ireland.”
“When the Minister of State referred to office roles in Brussels, was he describing roles in NATO headquarters? The international forces the Minister of State is describing are exactly like the coalition that invaded Iraq.”
“I look forward to coming back to the topic of the triple lock in a few questions' time. I have read with extreme concern the reports over the past week on the lack of support provided by the Department of Defence to Women of Honour, whose members are participating in the Defence Forces tribunal.”
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“Over the weekend, violent Israeli settlers rampaged through the West Bank. They blazed a trail of devastation, burning down homes and public buildings and injuring dozens of Palestinians. In a separate attack last week, masked settlers sexually assaulted a Palestinian man in front of his family. They beat him with clubs, tied him up, stripped him naked and zip-tied his genitals. That attack was so horrific that it finally hit the international press but only because two human rights activists, an American and a Portuguese, were present to corroborate it. Palestinians in the West Bank are being terrorised every day by racist, violent Israel settlers and we rarely hear anything about it. In February alone, there were 511 attacks by settlers, who murdered five Palestinians. Now we see Israel invading and occupying southern Lebanon.”
“A public model of childcare, social and affordable housing, collective bargaining and stronger workers' rights would all help single parents more than they would help other parts of the population because they are so structurally denied. Gingerbread is a one-parent service in Scotland and the rest of the UK that is supporting a single-parent family day this year by talking about the fact that single parents are superheroes. They are the ones who stick around. They are the resilient parent who manages despite all those structural disadvantages. Today, I wish to acknowledge the superheroes in Ireland who are single mums.”
“Indeed, I remember my daughter being appalled during the marriage equality referendum at the posters that lined our streets saying every child deserved a mother and a father. Her father left Ireland when she was ten days old and never came back and never supported us as a family, so to say that to her really denied her her reality and it spoke to her as if our family was inferior. There are many fixes that would help one-parent families because they are structurally vulnerable. There are so many ways in which the structure of our society simply makes them vulnerable by default, but there are fixes that would help all of society and also help single parents disproportionately.”
“Although the direct stigma is not as frequent, single-parent families and single mums are still seen as inferior. There is so much of value in being in a one-parent family that is never called out in Irish society. For example, a child in a one-parent family has a single line of authority, often something that can be better than a fractured two-parent family. They also have that unique bond, I believe, particularly where there is a single parent with one child. There are, therefore, ways in which I believe my family was a very positive place to bring up my daughter that I do not think are celebrated by Irish families. We still see that very traditional attitude that children should experience a mother and father in the home.”
“Some 46.3% of one-parent families live in enforced deprivation, which is nearly three times the figure for two-parent families. Women in one-parent families are far more likely to have to take unpaid leave, move to part-time employment or leave the labour market due to a lack of affordable childcare. Focus Ireland recently found that 57% of homeless families in this country were one-parent families. Even though I would say we have moved on from what was a time of real stigma for one-parent families, I think we have lost the connection between the very dark history this country has in terms of the treatment of women who became pregnant outside of marriage and chose to raise children outside of marriage and our mother and baby homes and Magdalen laundries. I believe that has left a legacy in Ireland.”
“I will use my time today celebrating International Women's Day, to celebrate a specific group. That is single mums. We are actually closer to Single Parents Day, which falls on Saturday, 21 March, than we are to women's day, which was a couple of weeks ago. I realise there are also single dads. I put that on the record straight away but 85% of one-parent families are headed by women. The experience of one-parent families in Irish society is very much a women's issue. For my daughter's entire upbringing, I brought her up alone. We comprised one of those one-parent families. One-parent families are significantly worse-off than, if you like, traditional families in Irish society. They are statistically one of the groups in society most likely to experience poverty.”
“This is the kind of thing I would urge Government and the Minister to look at to make sure the 40 years of really hard work by the Southside Travellers Action Group is not lost because of the crisis that arisen over the past year or so. For me, the difficulty is that we know how hard it is. This is one of the first groups that was ever set up to provide these services to Travellers in Ireland. The thought that we would lose that infrastructure and continuity is really devastating. One thing I really want to emphasise is that the Minister should really seek to maintain that continuity.”
“I am seeking assurance that, as the Minister of State mentioned all the funders being conscious of the need to ensure services are delivered to the community, that they remain accessible and that the needs of the Traveller community continue to be prioritised and met. That means those services must be provided by alternative organisations, by the council and by funding that comes from elsewhere across Government while this issue is being dealt with. I appreciate this is a complex issue and something that needs input from multiple sources but I want to make sure some of the good work is not lost in regard to things like the lease this organisation has, which I believe may be under threat if we do not get a solution in place fast enough.”
“I thank the Minister of State. The Minister of State mentioned the governance issues that have arisen. This organisation has operated for 40 years and the governance and running of the organisation was done very well during that time. I have worked with many of these groups and it is against all odds sometimes that they survive with very little funding, a lot of volunteer power, and community spirit driving them forward. The has been operating and functioning well as an organisation for many decades. It is crucial to not to lose sight of that while dealing with the current issues that arise.”
“I really want to work with Government on this. I want to work with the Minister of State or whoever is responsible for this area to find a solution and show up for this delicate community.”
“What I mean by that, because the Traveller community is a very proud people and community, is its members face discrimination in areas across Irish life. They face racism that is the last accepted racism in our society, particularly in areas like mine where historically, political leaders have not shown the kindness to Travellers that we expect and Travellers deserve, and recognition of the racism and discrimination they experience in all spheres of Irish life. Attitudes of NIMBYism are not dealt with by political leaders and, in some instances, they are even fomented by political leaders within my constituency. This is an opportunity for me and my constituency colleagues to show up for the Traveller community in Rathdown and specifically help put forward solutions when the Southside Traveller Action Group is in crisis.”
“These supports are vital for a community that has worse employment, educational and health outcomes and a much lower life expectancy than the settled population. If we are serious about equality, we need to address these issues for the Traveller community. STAG has been a huge part of that response in south Dublin for 40 years, and it is absolutely vital that any dissolution of the organisation does not leave these issues and that work abandoned. I worked a lot on Traveller issues during my time in the human rights sector, and I have to say, it was an absolute privilege to work with groups such as the Southside Traveller Action Group from across Ireland that really provide for the gap in services I have described, which the State unfortunately as of yet does not provide for. The Traveller community is structurally vulnerable.”
“I understand that issues have arisen within the organisation and that the governance of the organisation is not for discussion in this Chamber. However, what is clearly within our scope is ensuring that Travellers in south Dublin continue to have the services they have relied on for over 40 years. We need to make sure the relevant Departments of equality, justice and social protection across government work together with the Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to ensure the Traveller community itself is not penalised due to a situation it has not created. We need to ensure that education and health supports, housing advocacy and employment and training programmes for Travellers in my area continue and that there is a premises for these activities to take place.”
“I am very grateful for the opportunity to raise the issue of the closure and liquidation of the Southside Traveller Action Group, STAG. STAG has provided support to the Traveller community in my constituency and neighbouring constituencies for four decades. It provides support for some of the most marginalised people in our country, through periods when Travellers have faced horrific racism and abuse, a structural lack of support from the State and unimaginable tragedies such as the Carrickmines fire in which ten people tragically lost their lives. The announcement that STAG is closing has resulted in feelings of anger, betrayal and devastation for the Traveller community because for 40 years it has been helping Travellers with education, health supports, housing advocacy, employment and training programmes and after-school programmes.”
“Irish peacekeepers are known across the globe for bringing safety, stability and hope. We can remain strong because we refuse to surrender to pressure from arms corporations that profit from violence. The triple lock is our guarantee to that. Most people in Ireland agree that our position on peacekeeping and neutrality makes us stronger. Keeping the triple lock intact by stopping the defence (amendment) Bill is the only way we can truly copper-fasten our commitment to peace and basically triple lock our future in this increasingly volatile world.”
“That is why the triple lock is so important and why we have to double down on it now. We are proud of our long history of commitment to peace and our moral compass in a world where a powerful few are increasingly trying to oppress the many. We are proud of what we have achieved through diplomacy, peacekeeping and neutrality. Our leaders are being pushed into this and being pushed to back away from our neutrality by lobbyists for big weapons company. More wars mean more profits. Our triple lock on peace stands in their way. Our Government has a choice. It can stand up to the arms industry and fight for a world where co-operation, safety and peace flourish or it can give in, putting us, our children, grandchildren and our neighbours across Europe at greater risk of violence and danger.”
“We exercise our membership of both the European Union and the United Nations through practising the condemnation of the breaking of international law and supporting those countries that are victims of it. Neutrality is also a proactive position. I raise this now as many will do during these statements because the current incursion by this Government into our neutrality has been to chip away at it for years. What the Government is trying to do with this defence legislation passing through the Houses at the moment is put the final nail in the coffin of our neutrality by removing the triple lock. The triple lock was the reason we were not engaged in the Iraq war a couple of decades ago and the removal of the triple lock will mean that we do have that same guard-rail against this increasingly volatile world.”
“We can absolutely condemn the Iranian regime and the fact that it has retaliated with the strikes it is carrying out across multiple countries within the region and further afield but we cannot forget where it came from. This Government must condemn that. In condemning it, what the Government would be doing is saying that it respects rules-based order and multilateralism and that when somebody breaks that rules-based order, whether they are friend or foe, we condemn it. That is what multilateralism is. That is what respect for a global rules-based order is. We do not pick and choose when we decide to condemn the breaking of international law; we do it consistently so that it means something. Multilateralism is a proactive position. It is not something we do passively. We live it and breathe it.”
“He has indirectly been responsible for further attacks by Israel by providing it with arms and other countries too. He has also attacked ships in Latin American waters and, of course, on top of all of this, he has cut USAID so that any of the normal humanitarian, peacebuilding and peacekeeping responses we might expect to see in the wake of such a conflict are not going to happen because he has crippled the globe with his actions. All of these are weapons of mass distraction to avert our eyes here in Ireland and domestically in the US from his domestic failings, his tanking popularity and the atrocities he is levying across our world. We cannot forget where this is coming from.”
“I am genuinely dismayed that what followed from that is that those people are getting a link sent to them with a PayPal request for €800 before they even board the plane. The chain reaction that has been set off is under much discussion here today but I want us to remain steadfast in not forgetting where this started, which is the US and Israel choosing to do this, with motivations as yet unclear. The Trump Administration is jumping around between regime change and nuclear disarmament as it suits it. It does not have a plan. It never had a plan. Trump likes invading countries. That is clear a year and a bit into his term. It is also clear that he has found what he likes to do and is going to continue doing it. He has invaded seven different countries since his return to office: Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Nigeria and Somalia.”
“I appreciate the oppressive regime that has been putting Iran's people down for so long and I certainly acknowledge that it is responsible for the deaths of thousands of protestors in the past few weeks but what the US and Israel have done is go to the tinderbox that is the Middle East and drop a lit match. We are all living with the repercussions of that. The Government not being able to outrightly and forthrightly condemn that is something I really have a huge issue with. When we were on that panel show together on Tuesday, the Minister of State focused on the consular response. I took that in good faith and said to him live on air that I acknowledged that the Government is prioritising vulnerable people, and I acknowledge the good work being done when that first charter flight was announced.”
“I welcome that the Minister has gone a little further today in her tone but the Government is stopping short of condemning what the US and Israel have done in breaking international law and essentially starting this conflict. We have just heard 15 minutes from Deputy Malcolm Byrne, who spoke about the horrific Iranian regime. None of us are denying that. He gave about 30 seconds of lip service to condemning the US and Israel. I find that disproportionate when what we are seeing on day five of this is a result of the attack by the US and Israel. I appreciate that Iran is engaged in grey-zone warfare, as he described it.”
“I appreciate that and, once again, it is not the concept or the principle of a fee that is the problem. It is the fact that people are being asked to pay it before they have even gotten the flight. In some cases, that will be a family with a number of people who have already paid for flights home and not flown and now they are being asked to put further money towards ensuring their own safety. I was on a television show with the same Minister of State on Tuesday of this week and my first message on this whole response was that I was still in shock that the Government was not condemning the attacks by the US and Israel. I still find it shocking.”
“We do not have an issue with the payment per se . What we have an issue with are clear reports coming through that people are finding communication difficult. For some people, the first communication they have had is essentially asking people to pay €800 for a flight home from an active war zone before they board the flight. That is really quite horrifying right now. This is not just a consular crisis; this is a war zone suffering active bombardment. The Minister compared it to the Covid response and bringing people home during Covid. I am sorry; that is not the same. The only reason this is different is people are not being moved as they would normally be from a war zone by the Department of Defence. Instead, it is being managed in different ways.”
“I too extend a welcome to the McCracken family. I do not think there is a musician in Wexford who will not have visited the Dáil by the end of this term. It is lovely to have them here for International Women's Day. I wish to start by addressing the consular response. My colleague our spokesperson for foreign affairs, Senator Stephenson, spoke about her disappointment that for many people in these regions, the first contact they received was a link to a PayPal account asking for payment of €800 for a flight. Unfortunately, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, who has left the Chamber, responded in the press today essentially criticising Senator Stephenson for not mentioning children and so on, which she did in her contribution in the Seanad this morning. She has been very comprehensive and clear on this.”
“Is léir go bhfuil gá le hathrú sa chóras más mian linn dul i ngleic leis seo. The postmaster represents so much more to our society than delivering messages. Across the country they stand for communication, financial access, history and community. They play an invaluable role in the social fabric of Irish life and should be treated as such. While I welcome the increase in Government funding of €75 million to help the An Post network, I question what good this will do when we continue to perpetuate an employment model that only mistreats our postmasters. This Government and An Post must develop a more sustainable model to ensure postmasters can continue to deliver their vital services while receiving basic employment benefits.”
“While the demands have increased, the business model has not evolved to match them. Postmasters are essentially treated as independent contractors with neither the rewards nor the recognition that accompany a public service job. They are held to bogus self-employment, doing the same work as full employees without receiving any of the benefits associated with direct employment. This is an arrangement that An Post and successive Governments have embraced for too long. It is not fair and it is not good enough. Is seirbhís riachtanach í oifig an phoist. Is áit í ina dtagann daoine le chéile agus ina mbíonn seans ag daoine ar scor a chuid comharsan a fheiceáil go seachtainiúil. Trí easpa oifigí, táimid á dhéanamh níos deacra do gach duine litir a chur chuig cara, pacáiste a chur, nó na seirbhísí ar fad atá ar fáil trí An Post a úsáid.”
“Over the past ten years, Ireland has seen the closure of more than 257 post offices. In my own constituency, the Mount Merrion post office closed in 2021 and the Kilmacud post office closed just a few weeks ago on 11 February. Residents now face up to 40 minutes of a commute to reach a basic amenity. Both of those post offices closed as a result of An Post being unable to recruit new postmasters to keep the services running. Unfortunately, this issue has been developing for some time across the country. The fact is that the postmaster employment model no longer functions in modern Irish society. Over the years, the duties and responsibilities of postmasters have developed to include vital community services, like welfare payments, government services and parcel deliveries.”
“Littered throughout the Minister's speech is rhetoric which sounds to me like self-regulation of the tech sector, and we are not moving away from it. Certainly, the digital omnibus will push us back towards that. As a member state of the European Union, we do not have to take that as our direction of travel. We can say, "No, we want to maintain the regulation that European citizens enjoy and cherish and push back against that agenda."”
“This Bill is exactly where we need to be in terms of pushing us towards that space of actually having regulation that might work, because the regulation we have right now is simply not working, nor are the solutions being offered at European or domestic level. I urge the Government to withdraw its amendment. I also once again ask this Government to stop supporting the digital omnibus packages making their way through the European Union because they will gut the AI Act of any meaningful impact it would have had. They will also further strip back the protections we enjoy under the GDPR. I want to hear the Government push back on the simplification agenda at European level because it is that agenda and harmonisation that are informing the Government's wish to keep this kind of self-regulatory model in existence.”
“Honestly, I am kind of surprised that it might be offered by this Government because it is a much larger legal question to deal with platforms as publishers. Essentially, that means they would be held to account for the content they host. For decades now there has been talk of how that could change, but it really gets to the heart of the business model of these tech platforms, which is ultimately the source of all these issues. We, the user, are the product, and as long as we remain the product we will have issues with platforms not taking on the role of publishers and we will have issues with their recommender algorithms pushing us into where they want us to be, which is eyes on screen all the time. Dealing with that user-as-the-product issue is really too big not to tackle.”
“It is arbitrary to say that, at 16, all of a sudden you are supposed to be able to read all of this hateful content and deal with it. It is simply crazy at this stage. Then we also hear, on a more general basis, the Government say that there are no solutions and that we in the Opposition are not coming up with solutions. I have been heartbroken on that recently. It happens with regard to anything we come forward with. This is a really clear, well-worked out Bill that offers a solution to a problem we all discuss all the time, and once again the Government is choosing to say "no thanks" to it. This is a solution that could work, and I urge the Government to reconsider its decision. One of the other things we need to look at is platforms as publishers. The Minister of State has raised this.”
“The Minister has gone but I thought he might like one particular reply which was added. It said, "she is giving Patrick O'Donovan a run for his money as the biggest idiot in Leinster House." I appreciate that everybody gets it but what I am trying to demonstrate here is that there is sexism and misogyny in our society that is being fuelled, amplified and turbo-charged by these toxic algorithms. We are all living it every single day. Age verification is being put forward again and again by the Government. It is not going to work. The summary I have on that points to the privacy issues it raises, the fact that it contravenes children's rights issues, namely, the right to participate in society and particularly online, and essentially leaves behind the major issues of our day.”
“Under the two clips of me, which were put up at the same time from the same show, there are 156 and 171 comments, respectively. They are not nice. There is a lot of the c-word, that one that rhymes with blunt. There is a lot about calling me a man. I am consistently transvestigated online because I talk about trans rights issues. It is horrible. It is such a clear example. I get that all politicians, all public representatives, get hate online. The Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, would have a much higher profile than I would. He has been a politician much longer than I have. Apart from the fact that maybe I have less likeability factor or something, even accounting for that, it still seems a clear example to me of misogyny and how women are bearing the brunt of these issues.”
“For me, polarisation is one of the biggest issues in society that is proliferated by toxic algorithms. They create a bubble whereby our own stereotypes and biases are reinforced again and again. We are losing the wonderful discourse and public discussions we have had in society because people are being pushed into camps further and further away from themselves. Misogyny has been discussed at length already today. I want to use a real-time example for that one. I was on "The Tonight Show" last night and I get the usual hate online from that. I am sure the Minister of State knows that too. I took a little look at the four first clips that were put up of me and the Minister of State, Deputy Neale Richmond, who was on the panel with me. Under the two clips of his contributions on Twitter, there are nine and three comments, respectively.”
“It was the first time I came across the idea that the Internet is changing our brains. These algorithms are one of the biggest ways in which our brains are being rewired. The technology is rewiring us. That is why in this legislation it is so important that we single out children. They have greater plasticity within their brains and are at greater risk of that rewiring. I read that 15 years ago and I recommend it even now as a book that still stands in terms of addressing how our use of technology is affecting our cognitive function and emotional regulation. Telling me the Government is dealing with it, it is happening, it is under investigation, none of that is good enough. We need real-time solutions and they are not forthcoming. I have mentioned some of the problems.”
“These are not working. If this is what the Government's solution is, it is not working. The Minister referred to preliminary findings and the need to address investigations, regulation and action. This has been going on for years. When I worked in Google between 2006 and 2014, one of the biggest topics towards the end of that period was pro-ana websites which were being promoted to young women at the time. That developed into additional issues around self-harm. I have personal, family experience of exactly how problematic and difficult that can be. To tell me that the EU is regulating it and has responded, that the Government's tools are working and the responses and solutions are there just does not wash. I read a book in 2011 by Nicholas Carr called The Shallows .”
“Describing the EU Digital Services Act, he said it "requires that platforms explain, in understandable language, the main parameters their systems use to suggest content, as well as providing options for users to change or influence these parameters." He further described the Act as requiring platforms "to assess and mitigate risks that their recommender systems may present, including to the protection of minors", and as obliging platforms to provide minors "the option to use recommender systems that do not rely on profiling." All of these are listed as current solutions that are out there and working. They are not working because people are still being fed promotion of anorexia - pro-ana - material. People are still being polarised. People are still being radicalised. Young men are being turned into misogynistic monsters by these tools.”
“This is brilliant legislation which offers off by default as a starting point, and off for under-18s. That is just a starting point but it is a good and important start. I acknowledge the incredible work of Deputy Paul Murphy and People Before Profit, not just on this Bill but on the issue more broadly. I believe there is a value that Members of this House share. I have seen much hand-wringing from the Minister and Government spokespeople who seem to grapple with this issue. What I do not see is action and what I did not hear in the Minister's speech today is action. I want to touch on some of the framing he used. He stated that "the issues around recommender systems can be and are being addressed." I do not understand how anybody can stand over that when the recommender systems continue to do what they are doing.”
“They do not have the same privacy concerns either, for example. This is something I looked at when I worked in the tech sector. Attitudes towards privacy for younger people are completely different because, largely, that horse has bolted. They have grown up and live in a very different world where privacy is a different ball game for them completely. However, the online worlds has become so toxic and harmful. This is true of the Internet more broadly, as I have discussed directly with the Minister, particularly things like chatbots that are prompting people towards suicide, some of the online radicalism we are seeing and so on. Specifically in respect of recommender algorithms, there are some specific harms around polarisation, mental health and misogyny that are being discussed this morning which have to be addressed.”
“I have always felt that technology is a positive force in society. My career has been shaped by how technology can be harnessed for social good. Back in 1997, I did my undergraduate dissertation on the impact of the information revolution on the development of socialism, would you believe. That was back when we called it the information revolution and back when I called myself more openly a socialist. I come at this as a tech enthusiast. I love technology and I see that social media is incredibly positive in our world in so many ways, or was, and particularly for younger people. For them, as we have heard from other Deputies, there is no difference between the physical world and the online world. When we talk about solutions for the online world and compare them to the physical world, young people simply do not have that mentality.”
“Bhí muid ag fanacht blianta le haghaidh na dtreoirlínte pleanála, ach tá muid fós ag fanacht leo, nó le haon réiteach ón Rialtas seo. Nuair nach bhfuil ach deich teach sa Ghaeltacht ar fáil ar cíos fadtéarmach agus os cionn 1,000 teach ar fáil le haghaidh turasóirí, is léir go bhfuil teip iomlán pleanála agus polasaithe i gceist. Teastaíonn tithíocht inacmhainne ó mhuintir na Gaeltachta. Is gá le hobair ollmhór ó thaobh séarachais agus pleanála de. Teastaíonn fís don Ghaeltacht ina mbeidh daoine óga ag fás aníos agus ag fanacht sa Ghaeltacht, áit a mbeidh siad in ann tithe a cheannach nó a ghlacadh ar cíos agus clann a thógáil. Tá muid ag brú an phobail a choinníonn an teanga beo amach. Murach muintir na Gaeltachta, ní bheadh aon Ghaeilge ann.”
“Ar an gcéad dul síos, gabhaim buíochas le Sinn Féin as ucht an tairiscint seo a tabhairt chun na Dála anocht. Is léir ón méid atá tarlaithe ó thaobh líon na gcainteoirí laethúla sa Ghaeltacht le blianta anuas go bhfuil ag teip go huile is go hiomlán ar an Rialtas lena chuid iarrachtaí deireadh a chur le meath na Gaeltachta. Le gach daonáireamh, tá níos lú cainteoirí laethúla sa Ghaeltacht. Le blianta, tá muid ag caint faoin ghéarchéim tithíochta sa Ghaeltacht agus an tionchar atá aici ar an teanga. Muna bhfuil an pobal in ann maireachtáil sa Ghaeltacht, is cuma faoi na polasaithe ó thaobh na teanga de. Muna bhfuil cainteoirí laethúla sa Ghaeltacht, níl aon Ghaeltacht ann. Is léir ón méid atá, agus nach bhfuil, tarlaithe le blianta beaga anuas nach bhfuil aon uaillmhian ag an Rialtas dul i ngleic leis an ngéarchéim seo.”
“As we have heard, the implications of the illegal attack of the US and Israel on Iran and the retaliatory attacks are far reaching in terms of citizen safety abroad, energy prices and international law. We need a debate on this issue this week. The Taoiseach has just said we have not debated Iran enough, so please make time for this and debate these pressing issues.”
“I thank the Minister of State and thank all my colleagues in the committee. I have really enjoyed being a part of this. I am very proud of the report that we are tabling here today.”
“We need to preserve the artificial intelligence, AI, systems' registrations' requirements, safeguard powers of Article 77 fundamental rights bodies, maintain high-risk AI system timelines, protect GDPR personal data protections, maintain human oversight requirements, limit the collection of sensitive personal data, protect inferred sensitive data and prevent weakening of AI literacy requirements. I am more than happy to submit that list to the Minister of State. I have quite an expanded piece of research done on this, which I can share with the Minister of State and her officials, which demonstrates that these omnibus packages will pull back on protections and rights. It is not benign. It is not harmonisation. It is deregulation and it is a threat to our safety from these products.”
“I appreciate that is what is coming down the track from Europe but we do not have to conform to it as a State. We can seek to better regulate and better build standards for our citizens and say to Europe that we will actually do it this way and we will show it why that works better. The digital omnibus is the absolutely crucial part of it in this space. The digital omnibus promises to gut the AI Act. I know people push back at me and say it will not gut the AI Act. If you look into the detail of it, the digital omnibus is doing exactly that. Before the AI Act is even implemented on 2 August this year, the omnibus packages that are going through at the moment will absolutely shift it back to self-regulation and pull right back on protections we have enjoyed under GDPR.”
“Besides that, you can access those nudification features on platforms other than Grok and X. These problems persist despite what the Government and the industry are describing as an overburdensome regulatory framework. It just does not stack up for me. The simplification agenda has to be examined by the Minister of State and her Government. The issue of AI and technology is not the only place I am coming across it. My procurement Bill two weeks ago was knocked back on the same basis of simplification. That took eight years of work from Senator Alice-Mary Higgins. It came to the Dáil floor on Second Stage a couple of weeks ago. It was in this very slot, actually. On the same basis of simplification, the Minister of State's Government said "No". For me, that is something the Minister of State has to look at.”
“If these tech companies are drowning in that much regulation, how has Grok happened? That is my simple question. How has Grok happened and how have we seen such a failure to deal with it? The reality still exists that, right now, people can access the nudification feature on Grok. Despite the Minister of State's own efforts and her incredibly strong messaging on this, despite the investigations that are ongoing by An Garda Síochána and despite the co-operation of Coimisiún na Mean and the Data Protection Commission, with the European Commission and with the UK inquiry into privacy and despite all of these investigations, inquiries and avenues to access justice, people can still do what they could do all along. You just need to download a simple VPN and you can access the nudification feature.”
“One of the places it really needs to happen is in the simplification agenda because I hear again and again that simplification does not mean deregulation. However, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, said to me simplification does not mean deregulation but it does mean relieving the regulatory burden. In response from Google at the committee just this week, I heard the response that simplification is about streamlining. I believe Mr. O'Flaherty told me there have been something like 100 different EU directives relating to technology, they are drowning in all of this regulation and it needs to be streamlined, simplified and harmonised. I do not doubt representatives of Government believe that is what happening but I am sorry, that is not what is happening. It is deregulation.”