I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, and the officials from her Department.

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and those Senators who are here tonight to contribute to this really important debate.

Before I outline my key priorities for Ireland’s approach to artificial intelligence, Al, I want to make some points about the online safety matters that have come so sharply into focus in recent weeks. They have highlighted the importance of having an effective legal framework to deal with issues around images, deepfakes and, of course, consent. I share Senators' serious concerns over reports of harmful and illegal content generated through Grok and on the X platform. This is not just an Irish issue; it affects citizens across the EU. Both the Government and the European Commission have been unequivocal. Using Al to create abusive, offensive or harassing material will not be tolerated. The non-consensual sharing of intimate images is illegal, and generating child sexual abuse material is a crime.

The Digital Services Act, DSA, is a crucial piece of the EU's and Ireland’s online safety framework. On Monday, the European Commission announced a formal investigation into X under the DSA to determine whether it has met its obligations in response to reports of the dissemination of illegal content in the EU, including manipulated intimate images. The investigation will examine whether X has met its legal obligations, particularly around risk mitigation, content governance and the protection of fundamental rights. Coimisiún na Meán has been intensively engaging with the European Commission on this matter in recent weeks and will continue to support the Commission in its investigation. I thank Coimisiún na Meán for meeting with me several times over the past number of weeks to update and inform me of the working being done.

The European Commission’s action reflects the clear legal responsibilities placed on platforms to prevent illegal content and safeguard their users. At home, An Garda Síochána has numerous investigations under way to establish if there have been breaches of the law, including under the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020 and the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998. As recommended by the Al advisory council, the Government will explore the potential to expand the list of prohibited Al practices under the Al Act. In this regard, I have asked my officials to liaise with the Commission on the potential for the EU Al Act to be amended to provide protections against the generation of images and deepfakes without consent and the generation of content constituting child sexual abuse material through Al systems. I would like to thank Mr. Declan McCormack and all the officials in the Department who have worked at breakneck speed over the past two or three weeks to get on top of this issue.

I will turn to my key priorities and long-term vision for lreland’s approach to Al. lreland has long been recognised as a dynamic, forward-looking digital hub. Maintaining that position requires sustained ambition and timely action. To stay at the forefront of global technological change, we must fully embrace the transformative potential of Al across our economy and society. The recent announcement of the €4.7 billion sectoral capital plan for my Department represents a major step change in that direction. It is the largest investment ever made in our enterprise and innovation ecosystem, signalling a long-term commitment to competitiveness, high-quality jobs and the infrastructure demanded by world-leading industries. Crucially, €1.3 billion of this funding is dedicated specifically to supporting disruptive technologies, research partnerships, technology centres and major European projects. However, innovation must go hand in hand with strong and trusted governance. Citizens and businesses need confidence that Al systems are safe, fair and accountable. Recent events around Grok demonstrate exactly why robust oversight matters.

One of my core ambitions is to cement Ireland's role as a centre of regulatory excellence. We will champion well-designed digital regulation that protects individuals’ safety and fundamental rights, while still enabling innovation to thrive. This balanced approach is essential to Ireland not only leading but developing technologies and setting the standards that govern safe and ethical use.

l am firmly committed to implementing the EU AI Act, a forward-looking framework that balances innovation with proportionate safeguards. We are making strong progress and Ireland has adopted a distributed implementation model so businesses can work with regulators who understand their sectors. The Government recently approved priority drafting of the legislation needed to give full effect to the Act.

The AI office of Ireland will be established in August 2026, supported by €1.5 million in start-up funding. Work is already under way on the general scheme that will create the office as an independent statutory body and lreland’s central authority for Al Act implementation. The office will also promote research and adoption. Even though many small firms will not fall under the high-risk scope of the Act, all businesses should start assessing their Al use. Supports to do that are already in place through CeADAR, Ireland's national centre for applied Al, my Department's website and the EU AI Act service desk compliance checker.

A key function of the new office will be establishing a national AI regulatory sandbox, giving Ireland's businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, SMEs, and start-ups a safe environment to test, learn and innovate while navigating the Act's requirements.

These measures strengthen our national framework for trusted AI. They are also aligned with a wider European effort to ensure regulation is effective and proportionate. The European Commission's digital simplification omnibus package, published in November, is an important development. It includes proposals to simplify rules on data, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, which is a very welcome first step to improving competitiveness at an EU level.

I have been vocal at meetings with ministerial colleagues across the EU that Ireland believes that the digital simplification package should take a dynamic, ambitious and risk-based approach, focusing on removing regulatory overlaps, reducing administrative burdens and supporting compliance. However, I want to be clear that simplification does not mean deregulation. The proposed simplification measures have been arrived at through significant stakeholder consultation by the Commission. They maintain the same high standards for safety and fundamental rights, while ensuring more effective implementation of the Al Act.

Equally important to our future success is to fast-track widespread adoption of digital and AI technologies across our enterprise sector. I have seen first-hand the impact that Al can have on boosting productivity and enhancing competitiveness in firms of all sizes. To empower more businesses, particularly SMEs, to adopt AI, I am working with local enterprise offices, European digital hubs, and enterprise agencies to ensure that every SME is aware of the benefits and the State supports available to them. We hosted our first information event in Cavan last week and look forward to replicating this across the country in the months ahead.

Building on this momentum, a further €23 million in additional funding was recently announced for Ireland's four European digital innovation hubs to support SMEs in their uptake of AI and other cutting-edge digital technologies. These hubs, in Cork, Dublin, Mullingar and Sligo, are delivering real, practical supports that help SMEs to understand, test and adopt advanced digital technologies with confidence.

The Government will soon publish an updated national digital and Al strategy, setting out a clear roadmap for Ireland's digital and Al adoption in the years ahead. It will take a whole-of-government approach, supporting Al uptake across all sectors and addressing the key enablers of a strong digital economy, from skills to infrastructure to modern public services. As Ireland approaches the EU Presidency, we have a huge opportunity to help to shape Europe's digital and Al agenda. On 14 October, we will host an Al and digital summit in Dublin, bringing together more than 1,000 participants, including leaders from industry, government and research. As Minister of State with responsibility for Al and digital transformation, I am incredibly excited about this opportunity. I look forward to showcasing Ireland's leadership, strengthening collaboration across member states, and supporting ethical, sustainable and inclusive technology development.

I welcome the Minister of State. She is a regular visitor at this stage and is doing an excellent job. The Government has taken a logical approach to ensuring we maximise the use of AI to ensure we fully realise the benefits. As members will be aware, in 2025 the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, advanced significant AI policy initiatives related to the programme for Government's commitment to harness the digital and AI revolution for modern public services and economic growth.

There is huge scope and potential for AI to transform how SMEs operate day to day. That will require resources and support so that these businesses and their staff have the necessary capacity to fully utilise AI. As the Minister of State has outlined, the national digital and AI strategy is currently being reviewed and updated to ensure it is appropriate in the goals and ambitions it sets out. The updated strategy will include a number of priority targets to drive effective adoption of digital and AI across the economy and society over the years ahead. The challenge of ensuring that SMEs have the resources required to build capacity should be a priority target. As we are all aware, SMEs are the backbone of the Irish economy across the country and every opportunity we have to provide better resources to those businesses needs to be fully taken. I am sure the Government will take the necessary measures relating to AI to ensure that happens.

In seeking to maximise the potential of AI, we must also ensure appropriate safeguards for its use are in place, as would be needed with any resource. Members will be aware that budget 2026 secured €1.5 million in start-up funding to establish the AI office of Ireland by August 2026. I believe that office will be essential in ensuring safe, suitable usage. As the Minister of State outlined, it will co-ordinate EU AI Act implementation, promote transparent and safe AI adoption, and oversee a national AI regulatory sandbox where innovators can test solutions with compliance experts.

The regulation of artificial intelligence Bill 2026 is an important step in this area and is required to fully implement and enforce the EU AI Act in Ireland. Timely and effective implementation will reinforce Ireland's commitment to responsible AI development and strengthen Ireland's position as a centre of regulatory excellence. A whole-of-government approach remains essential. Ireland's strategic role makes this legislation significant. As we have heard, effective AI Act implementation supports competitiveness and Ireland's attractiveness as a location for innovation by providing a coherent regulatory framework. As Ireland prepares for the 2026 EU Presidency, maintaining momentum is vital.

There are serious concerns about AI and privacy or illegal content. We have seen this become a major issue in recent weeks with the controversy about Twitter, or X, as it is now named. The European Commission is investigating, which is welcome, but it is important for the Government to take swift and decisive action on this matter to make it clear that such illegal or harassing content will not be tolerated for a moment. I know the Attorney General and the Minister for justice are examining whether the established legal framework is sufficiently robust to protect people from digital harms like these. It is vital that works move quickly and that legislation is brought forward immediately if needed. This is a sensitive topic which has affected a significant number of women, especially, across the country already.

I thank the Minister of State for attending. In recent weeks, we have confronted some stark warnings about where unchecked AI can harm society. It has brought into focus both the immense promise and real challenges that AI presents to us. I attended a presentation in the audiovisual room yesterday and I am not the better for it. I listened to what young girls and young boys are exposed to about what they should expect when they become sexually active with each other, how girls are arriving in emergency departments with choking injuries and private area injuries at the age of 15, how one young man killed himself after chatting to his AI friend which mentioned suicide to him six times, and about the types of women people can create to be their AI girlfriend. I am mam to a ten-year-old and 11-year-old girl, just like the Minister of State is a mam to a young girl, and I absolutely dread the online AI world that they are growing up in. There is no time to waste on this. I know the Minister of State gets it, but as the strong Cavan woman she is, she really needs to push for the work on this now.

The online safety matters that have come so much to the fore in recent weeks have highlighted the importance of having an effective legal and regulatory framework to deal with issues around deepfakes and consent. The controversy surrounding an AI feature that is integrated into a social media platform has been a troubling development, as we have all witnessed over the last few weeks. This has rightly led to public uproar. On Sunday, the UN urged governments to implement more effective online regulations to address children's increased exposure to AI-generated content, which were signed by many companies and groups across the world. Experts recounted the ways in which bad actors target children using AI and digital technology, noting that predators can use AI to analyse a child's online behaviour, emotional state and interests to tailor their grooming strategy. AI has also facilitated sexual extortion by enabling offenders to generate explicit fake images of real children.

In an October 2025 study, Childlight - Global Child Safety Institute found a 1,325% increase in harmful AI-generated online abuse material. Experts urged countries like ours to explicitly criminalise, investigate, and appropriately sanction and bring to justice perpetrators of all forms of online child sexual abuse or exploitation committed through or with the support of AI systems, tools and platforms.

That leads me to the press release by our colleague, Deputy Brennan, with the headline describing the revelation that "not a single prosecution has been taken against a social media company for child abuse." The Oireachtas media committee was informed there has not been a single successful prosecution against any of the major tech firms for the manufacture and dissemination of child abuse image. A senior member of An Garda Síochána cyber crime bureau that day told the committee no case had been taken any social media company. It was also revealed that 25,000 referrals of potential sex abuse images were made to the Garda last year.

Social media companies have been around for two decades. They are not new in our lives. They must be held accountable in a court of law. This is the only way to send out a message to them. I will give an example of something else. We have all seen in the past few days the news about a fraudulent insurance claim made by a guy ten years ago who was sentenced to three years in jail. He was only sentenced last Friday. It took ten years to do that. When cases come on social media, it is such a fast moving, fast paced environment, we cannot wait that long. We have the Special Criminal Court for organised crime, which is fantastic. Maybe we need a fast paced court specifically for prosecuting anything harmful online when it comes to children.

I was glad to see the chatbot site, character.ai, cutting off teenagers from having conversations with virtual characters after facing intense criticism over the kinds of interactions young people were having with online companions. The platform, founded in 2021, is used by millions to talk to chatbots powered by AI but it is facing massive lawsuits, including one over the death of a teenager, with some branding it a clear and present danger. The platform has taken action and now, under-18s will only be able to generate content such as videos with their characters rather than talk to them like they used to able to do.

There are also broader concerns about the rise of misleading or harmful AI in media and politics, from deepfakes to disinformation campaigns that threaten the integrity of public debate and trust in our institutions. The current debate on AI must also not lose sight of the opportunities to business, which was rightly mentioned, particularly for Irish SMEs. For Irish firms and their workers, AI presents a significant opportunity to enhance productivity, unlock new capabilities and generate real value. AI offers massive potential to SMEs to cost effectively level-up to larger competitors. Strategies and tools once reserved for big businesses are now accessible to smaller firms. We had great conversations today in the enterprise committee about how we can support small businesses and Enterprise Ireland was there.

The AI revolution offers additional capability to businesses, including the scope to free up staff to focus on higher value work. AI is also creating demand for new and better jobs. To date, AI has not impacted the overall staffing needs of the vast majority of SMEs - which we do not want, obviously. However, the biggest risk to Ireland's economy and Irish jobs would be Ireland's failure to adapt, adopt and keep up with international competitors who are embracing AI. I note that Nordic countries like Denmark, Finland and Sweden lead in Europe for corporate AI adoption. In 2025, over 42% of Danish enterprises used AI, followed closely by Finland and Sweden. I welcome the new AI office that will be opened in August 2026. I also note in Ireland we are at about 10% but a lot of the companies that are using it at the moment are testing the waters and seeing in what aspect of their business they would use it.

I really thank the Minister of State for her time here today. I really look forward to all of the vital work I have no doubt she will do in this space.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. Based on the previous contributions, I think we are all largely on the same script. We recognise the benefits of this but we also recognise the great harm and in particular, the great sense of concern there has been in recent times around some of the tech companies and their use of AI. This debate is timely, given there is concern around that but that stems from a concern around a light touch approach to regulation, which people have exploited.

People and parents in particular have been disgusted, outraged and fearful about the potential of AI and what it can mean for themselves and their families. Technology is changing and developing at a pace that far outstrips our ability to monitor it in real time. Many do not fully understand it or how to take steps to enhance the online safety of children and young people. That is why it is essential the sector is properly regulated. The companies creating the technology for their own use on their platforms understand it. They must ensure it is not used for illegal or harmful purposes.

I welcome the publication of Coimisiún na Meán's legally binding online safety code a number of years ago and its ongoing contribution to the consultation about the Government's plans, as referenced in the Minister of State's contribution. I am also glad the State is moving away from the self-regulatory system which pertained previously. I welcome the publication of legislation yesterday by my colleagues Deputies Matt Carthy and Máire Devine, which will criminalise the generation of non-consensual, intimate images and videos. This is a step in the right direction.

Of course, we all welcome the positive applications of AI and its massive potential for the future of enterprise on the island. The Government recently published its enterprise investment package. In respect of the very substantial investment announced, it is imperative that small and medium-sized businesses can access that money as easily as possible. The last thing we want is for AI to end up overburdening businesses that are already struggling to survive.

During statements in the Dáil on this topic, the Government stated it plans to publish an updated national digital and AI strategy, which will set out a clear roadmap for Ireland's digital and AI adoption and the development in the years ahead. The Government also referenced the use of AI in public services. We accept AI is in both the present and the future. However, the Government has to be cognisant of the fact that for a huge cohort of citizens, it has become very difficult to engage with public services. The growth of digital access to State services, the MyWelfare app, the Revenue website and the portals people have to access to pay a bill or make a money transfer have coincided with the sharp reduction in the face to face provision of these services. I urge the Government to put measures in place to ensure everyone can access public services in the same way.

On the whole, AI can be a force for good. It as the potential to revolutionise the healthcare sector and in particular, offer advances in diagnostics and other areas. However, we can not lose sight of the fact that it can be manipulated by bad actors for their own gain and appropriate regulation must be in place to ensure the positive potential of AI is not lost to the actions of those who wish to cause harm.

I understand Seanadóirí Harmon and Stephenson are sharing time. It is four minutes each. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I welcome the Minister of State. It is not before time that we are having this discussion in the Seanad. The Minister of State's brief is extremely important and the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence, of which I am a member, is important as well because there is so much work to do in this area.

Two hours and six minutes is my daily average time spent on Instagram. That is the app I use the most and I was quite shocked when I looked into my insights. That is 730 hours per year that I spend on that particular app. I spend much more time online. The line between the real world and online world is becoming increasingly blurred. We spend more and more time online than we do with people. We do not know the long-term effects of what this will have on our health. We know that AI is becoming integrated now in all of the online platforms and social media we consume.

The Minister of State and I, along with the rest of the people in this Chamber, are part of the last generation of humans who will remember a time when we did not have AI, we did not have social media and we did not have mobile phones. Yet, I know the best way to influence me and market contact to me is probably through my phone and through online apps. We know there are huge concerns about this in terms of data and privacy. AI is moving faster than legislation and we have to keep up. The world as we know it is being revolutionised by AI in terms of relationships, communication, education, the development of art and politics. We know in terms of work, the Financial Services Union said from its survey that 88% of workers in that area are worried jobs will be lost because of AI.

There is a gendered element to AI. Most creators are men and the owners of the big tech companies are predominantly men. From research, we know children and teenagers are being bombarded with ads for AI girlfriends. Build your own AI slut is the name of one of these apps that are being targeted to young men. Nudification functions, Grok AI and sexual abuse images have to be stamped out and made utterly illegal. There is a real risk that we are turning back the clock on women's rights across the world and in this country if we do not get a handle on this. There is huge pressure on women now and how they should act, look and perform sexually. These pressures are there for men as well. AI is contributing to this.

That is not to say all AI is bad but we know there are elements of which we need to be aware. On relationships, there is limited research but we know more research needs to be done.

From the limited research that is there, 10% of adults have said they have had relationships with AI chatbots. It was 13% of men compared with 7% of women and the figure was highest among 25- to 34-year-olds. A total of 16% have had romantic relationships with chatbots. Again, we have to ask what this means for relationships in the future and human connection.

In the area of health and therapy it is really worrying that 18% have used chatbots for health advice and 10% are relying on them for therapy. AI simply cannot replace counselling, therapy and the medical profession. This is something we need to guard against and mechanisms need to be put in place for this. I commend my party colleague Deputy Kelly on the legislation he introduced in the Dáil last week that will ensure Coco's Law is updated and that intimate images created by AI will also become illegal. We need to progress this. I welcome the new strategy on digital and AI that the Minister of State is proposing to publish.

I thank the Minister of State for coming in. I really appreciate her passion about this area and especially online safety, but for a lot of us and much of the public watching, there is no faith in the Government's ability - I am not talking about the Minister of State specifically - to address these issues. We have been told it is difficult to regulate, that these things are unexpected and that we are in this position of catching up, but when we have legislation in place relating to non-consensual sharing of intimate images and we still cannot manage to hold X criminally responsible for the development and distribution of child sexual abuse material in flagrant breach of domestic legislation, it is really hard to have faith the Government is going to be able credibly deal with all the other challenges in the AI space, of which this is just one piece.

Nothing has been done in light of the Grok scandal. The Minister of State has had lots of meetings but with a simple VPN, those images can still be created in Ireland. I find it extraordinary that we are not holding these companies legally responsible when they have broken our laws, especially when we think about all the money they are making off us. X has made money out of the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material. Social media companies make money off us every day. With every single advertising click, they profit off all our outrage their algorithms generate and the harm happening in our communities. Their entire business model has been to exploit users’ data and make money. Then they can say “Oopsies, sorry, we’re bad” when they have produced a bot, programmed it and made it available on their platform. Under the Digital Services Act, there is the ability for Coimisiún na Mean to seek a judicial order to block access to X and the Government must put in place necessary steps to call for an all-out ban on X operating in Ireland if it does not immediately cease offering the facility to produce these deepfake images of women and children.

We all know the danger goes beyond any one platform. AI chatbots have encouraged people to take their own lives, such as in the high-profile and devastating case of Adam Raine, whose parents have begun a lawsuit against OpenAI. In Adam’s case, the AI chatbot effectively pushed him over the edge. Rather than encouraging him to seek support, it isolated him and called him brave for considering taking his own life. The use of AI chatbots can lead to emotional manipulation of the most vulnerable users, who can be adults as well as young people. The line between human and machine has been utterly blurred. What is worse is these chatbots are increasingly embedded in social media platforms such that people do not even know who they are speaking to - especially young people. A report from an online safety group, Internet Matters, found that one third of children feel as though speaking to AI is like speaking to a friend. Given the case of Adam Raine and many others, that should put chills down all our spines. Yesterday we heard from CyberSafeKids in the audiovisual room. The representatives spoke about the rise of AI girlfriends and how easy it is for young people to access them. An AI girlfriend is programmed to be pliant and subservient, which contributes to harmful gender norms. She will flirt with you, she will chat and she will send nudes and sexually explicit videos. That is accessible to anyone who goes online.

The harm this is doing to children and young people as well as vulnerable adults is completely immeasurable. We have sleepwalked into a crisis that looms large in every home and classroom. It is a crisis of online sexual abuse and harmful gender norms being reinforced by AI. Without strong regulatory enforcement and critical digital literary skills being embedded in the curriculum, we risk a generation of young people being irreparably harmed.

We have all talked about the benefits like climate disaster mitigation and forecasting and enhanced diagnosis in the healthcare space but if we do not properly regulate AI, we are in for a horrifying future. The Minister of State mentioned the digital omnibus but it is going to bring a dilution of data protection rights. It is going to weaken oversight of AI. AI systems will be able to process personal data with fewer safeguards and it may even lead to increased levels of digital surveillance of us as a public, and a reduction of the GDPR guidelines. Big tech has been heavily lobbying on this omnibus and I urge the Minister of State to look at this in detail. She said it is not deregulation but that is not how digital rights experts see it. It is a roll-back of hard-won digital rights protections. I would love to sit down with the Minister of State because we have already sleepwalked into a crisis and if we do not oppose this omnibus proposal, we are going to see a much worse future when it comes to AI regulation across Europe.

I set this speech against the backdrop of a quote that underpins a lot of the work I do, especially in the evolving area of AI. It is from a book I read a few years ago by Virginia Eubanks called Automating Inequality. It states, "When automated decision-making tools are not built to explicitly dismantle structural inequities, their speed and scale intensify them". We know that around the world artificial intelligence is already shaping people’s lives in warfare, public services, policing, welfare, education and online. From the outset we must be clear about one thing: AI is not neutral. The way it is designed, deployed and governed reflects choices about power, priorities and values. These are not merely technical decisions but ethical and political ones. That is why AI must be grounded in human rights and equality, not treated solely as an economic or technological issue. A technology-first approach is a bad approach. What we need instead are human rights and equality by design, built in from the very beginning. AI and its consequences dilute responsibility and shift it away from accountability.

Recent events involving Grok, the AI system integrated into the X platform, bring this debate out of the abstract and into the realm of real-world and ongoing harm. This is not simply a regulatory or ethical issue but a criminal law issue under existing Irish law. Ireland already has clear laws prohibiting the creation, publication and distribution of child sexual abuse material and non-consensual intimate images. Those laws apply regardless of whether the material is produced by a human or by an automated system. Where an AI system generates sexualised images of real people without consent and makes them available to others, publication and distribution are inseparable. In such cases platforms cannot credibly present themselves as passive intermediaries. They are operating the systems that produce and disseminate the material. Under Coco’s Law, it is a criminal offence for a person or a corporate body to publish or distribute non-consensual intimate images. In the case of Grok, publication and distribution occur at the moment of creation. Automation cannot serve as a shield against criminal responsibility. This is not a matter of waiting for the AI Act or future frameworks; this law already exists. The harm is foreseeable and the conduct unlawful, yet the response appears to rely on future-facing processes rather than the immediate use of existing enforcement powers.

This matters particularly for poorer and marginalised communities, who consistently bear the brunt of harmful AI deployment. Across the world we see AI systems being used in welfare administration, housing allocation, credit scoring, immigration control and policing. Too often these systems automate suspicion and intensify surveillance. When these systems fail due to error or bias, it is those with the least power, time or resources who pay the price. This is how inequality becomes automated. We have also seen where AI has gone wrong globally. Examples include facial recognition systems that misidentify people of colour, predictive policing tools that reinforce racist and class-based patterns and automated content systems that amplify fear and harassment faster than regulators can respond. These are not glitches but the predictable outcomes of deploying powerful systems that take away our control and autonomy.

We need to clearly determine who benefits from the proliferation of AI. Artists and musicians are having their creative work stolen and instrumentalised in AI applications. Workers are being replaced by AI systems. Amazon today announced 16,000 job losses and last year the company’s chief executive told staff that AI meant the company would operate with fewer workers. The result of this automation is less to pay in wages and more profit for Amazon.

We must confront the even more uncomfortable reality that AI is increasingly being used as tool of war. AI-enabled decision support systems are already being deployed in military operations. In Gaza, such systems have reportedly been used to generate large-scale targeting lists with minimal human oversight. One system known as "Lavender" produced a list of tens of thousands of people marked for assassination. Another system referred to as "Where's Daddy?" was designed to track individuals at home at night explicitly to enable strikes when families were present. These were described as decision support tools, and not weapons, yet they directly facilitated lethal force at scale. Human rights law does not distinguish between harm caused by a missile and harm enabled by an algorithm and neither should our regulatory research or procurement frameworks.

Returning to the domestic context, the Grok case exposes serious questions about enforcement and deterrence. Irish regulators already have the power to investigate, restrict and sanction harmful activities. If these powers are not being exercised, we must ask what threshold of harm is required to trigger fundamental rights in Ireland. Where AI systems generate and publish harmful material in a single automated process, accountability must follow. This leads to an unavoidable question. What real deterrent currently exists for AI providers that knowingly deploy systems with foreseeable abusive capabilities? We cannot wait for Europe to act. The EU omnibus bill is presented as simplification but in practice, it erodes core GDPR protections as AI systems expand surveillance, profiling and automated decision-making, thereby gutting privacy law and data rights.

We must honestly address the enormous environmental and climate ramifications of the rapid increase in AI infrastructure. OpenAI's own researchers have shown an exponential increase in the energy required to run these models with computing requirements doubling every 3.4 months. In Ireland, data centres consume more energy than the domestic use of 3.25 million people in urban homes. We must reckon with the fact that the rapid increase in data centres and associated AI infrastructure is introducing an entirely new category of environmentally damaging activity not only in terms of the existential threat posed by climate change but also the pollution caused by these centres affecting our air, soil and rivers.

As Ireland prepares to increase the share of our electricity grid dedicated to data centres, we must also engage with the associated financial risks of over-exposure to this sector in the Irish economy. Economists worldwide have raised concerns about the financial interdependence among these large companies and the need for continued growth. We must address our heightened exposure to this market.

Finally, the public sector must lead by example. From procurement to deployment to monitoring, AI systems used in public services must be rights-compliant from the outset, rather than retrofitted after harm has occurred. Human rights and equality cannot be an afterthought. Procurement must be transparent, it must assess all risk - environmental, equity, discrimination and potential abuses - and it must be very clear on who is responsible for addressing these risks.

Last month, the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence published an interim report that argued that the framing of AI in terms of regulation versus innovation is misplaced and that the two can co-exist. We all know AI is here. It is real. It is already shaping how businesses design products, serve customers, manage supply chains and compete internationally. For Irish businesses, from family-run SMEs to our global multinationals, AI is one of the most powerful productive tools of our generation. It can help manufacturers to reduce waste and energy costs, and allow retailers to better anticipate demand. It can enable farmers to optimise yields, logistics firms to cut delays and start-ups in regional towns to reach global markets. Used properly, AI is not about replacing people. It is about backing people. It frees workers from repetitive tasks so they can focus on judgment, creativity and connectivity. It gives small firms access to capabilities once reserved for the biggest corporations. Quite simply, it is a lever. On days like today in Leinster House, I sometimes wish I had an AI assistant because Wednesday seems to be one of those days.

Ireland is exceptionally well placed to lead in this area. We have a skilled workforce, a strong enterprise base, a global technology footprint and a proven track record in adapting to change. Our ambition should be unashamedly bold - to make Ireland the best place in Europe to build, adopt and scale for AI. However, ambition alone will not be enough. To harness the potential, we must radically rethink how we prepare people and that starts with education. Countries like Estonia are not debating whether AI belongs in the classroom. They are embedding it across their education systems. Children there are learning with AI and not just about AI. Teachers are being supported, not displaced. Students are leaving school fluent in the tools that will define the modern workplace. If we are serious about competitiveness, AI cannot be something young people first encounter in the workplace. It must be part of how we teach, train and upskill across a lifetime. This is how we build confidence, capability and resilience in our workforce.

Recent weeks have reminded us that with power comes great responsibility. The misuse of AI to generate illegal and harmful material is unacceptable. The generation of non-consensual intimate images is illegal. At a meeting of the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence yesterday, I said that 6,700 images are produced per hour by Grok. Because of all the publicity in Ireland in recent weeks, Grok is the number one app downloaded in Ireland. As we found out yesterday, while the Minister of State has been given assurances, there are VPNs out there that every person on the street using this technology can adjust to access the things we are trying to block. Let us not beat around the bush; the creation of child sexual abuse material is illegal. It is not a grey area. It is a criminal act that causes real harm and corrodes public trust in technology.

This is why Ireland and Europe are acting. Under the Digital Services Act, very large online platforms have clear obligations to assess and mitigate risks, including the spread of illegal content and the protection of minors. The European Commission's decision to open a formal investigation into X with Coimisiún na Meán's formal association demonstrates that our regulatory system is independent, credible and prepared to act. Alongside this, the EU Artificial Intelligence Act provides a risk-based framework prohibiting unacceptable practices, placing obligations on high-risk systems and ensuring transparency where it matters most. This is not regulation for regulation's sake. It is proportionate and targeted and gives certainty to innovators.

For business, this is crucial. Good regulation is not an enemy of innovation; it is a foundation. Enterprises invest where they have clarity, customers adapt where they have trust and markets grow where people believe technology is being used responsibly. Ireland's approach is to get the balance right - to drive rapid AI adoption across every sector while ensuring that AI is lawful, human-centred and trustworthy. Through a national AI office, the implementation of the Artificial Intelligence Act and our national digital and AI strategy, we are building an ecosystem that supports enterprise, rewards innovation and protects the public. The message to Irish businesses is straightforward: AI is an opportunity we cannot afford to ignore.

I will finish up with a reference to something we would all have received today from Digital Business Ireland. It states that the current debate on AI must not lose sight of the opportunity it offers to business, particularly Irish SMEs. It states that for Irish firms and their workers, AI presents a significant opportunity to enhance productivity, unlock new capabilities and generate real value. That is where we need to go with this.

I thank Senators Crowe, Nelson Murray, Scahill, Harmon, Stephenson and Ruane for their really thoughtful contributions. The debate has been very measured, thoughtful and considered. It demonstrates the advantages of AI in terms of its capabilities. It has to be acknowledged that AI has significant potential to allow businesses, particularly SMEs, to grow and scale up.

Equally, the responsibility I have - it bears very heavily on me to do it right - is to ensure that our citizens are protected, that our fundamental values and our values as Irish and European citizens are protected, and that our children are protected. Getting the balance right between doing that and doing what we need to do for enterprise is not an easy tightrope to walk but I am going to walk it and do that as best and as balanced as I possibly can.

We would be putting our heads in the sand if we did not accept that Irish small, medium-sized and larger businesses, and businesses across Europe, feel they have been crippled by burdensome bureaucracy. My vision of what the omnibus can do for Irish and European businesses is to take away some of those layers of bureaucracy and allow the businesses to scale and grow. As Senator Stephenson said, Irish businesses have been founded on good regulation. They are known and trusted for their good regulation. Any of the start-up tech businesses I have met are really keen to get going in Ireland because regulation is good and they know that travels globally.

On the Senator’s point about deregulation, if I thought it compromised in any way the protection of our citizens I would not sleep at night and I would not advocate for it. As I said, I am trying to get the balance right. I think it can be done in a way that ensures that our citizens and our values are protected and, equally, that our businesses are allowed to scale and grow when we take away some of the bureaucracy that has hampered them.

I commend the Senator. I heard her on “Late Debate” one night as I was travelling home and I know how passionately she feels about this. Coimisiún na Meán has certain powers under the Digital Services Act and it will act. It is collating the information. We have very strong laws here in Ireland. It is intolerable and it will not be tolerated. We have some of the most robust laws in Europe around child sexual abuse material. There is no doubt about that. Coimisiún na Meán, working with An Garda Síochána, is pulling together all this information with might and main. I ask Senators to consider that taking enforcement steps and ensuring that companies like X are held to account has to be much stronger if it is done by the European Union and the Commission rather than by little old Ireland on its own. That is not to say that we are in any way trying to walk away from our responsibilities – absolutely not. The job of Coimisiún na Meán on behalf of the nation and the Government is to ensure all the information is gathered. That takes time. I wish it could be done yesterday. I wish it could be done with the immediacy of having it the minute it happens, but unfortunately we do not have that. I do not think any country can say it does. I promise that I am not meeting these agencies for the sake of meeting them. I am meeting them to see that action is being taken. I am happy to see that the European Commission has moved forward and is investigating what happened not only in Ireland but across the 27 member states. I firmly believe the Commission acting on this sends a very powerful message globally about what our values are as European citizens.

I remind everyone in the House that we have established an AI advisory council. It was established before my time as a Minister of State in the Department. Its members are great people. They are experts. These are people from education, with law backgrounds and from industry. They are real experts. It is headed up by Dr. Patricia Scanlon. If do not know if the Senator has heard of her or spoken or listened to her, but she is a woman of a very high moral compass. That is something we all have in this room. We all have a desire to get this right and to protect our citizens. I encourage the Senator and everyone here to have a look at the paper we published through the Department. It was drawn up by experts in the field who are not influenced by anybody. It had four very clear recommendations. I probably will not remember them all now but the most important one, which I think will speak to all the Senators’ points this evening, was that legislation be brought forward on prohibited practices during the European Presidency and we are working to do that. That would broaden the protections for our citizens. That was the council’s recommendation to me and I will act on it.

Another recommendation was that there should be a campaign. Long before she was here, Senator Harmon was a great campaigner and advocate, and she continues that work here. The advisory council recommended a campaign similar to the ones that are being run around consent and the sharing of images. All those types of national campaigns that Coimisiún na Meán has run have been very effective. I am not saying they will stamp it out but I am talking about the human psyche and knowing what is acceptable and what is not, I accept how influenced small children and teenagers are. If they go into their bedrooms at night and have the world wide web in their hand, they can be manipulated. I do not accept the position of any tech company which tells me it is a question of user manipulation or bad actors. I do not accept that. They created the technology. Due diligence is required here. Standards are required. I am making the case, and I do not believe it is falling on deaf ears, that if you can create the technology to do these abhorrent things – this should not be happening in the first place - you have a duty to ensure that standards and safety measures are there to make sure those things cannot happen. I do not buy that it is the users’ fault. I do not buy the argument about bad actors. Of course we know that there are such people but that is a mere distraction from what these tech companies are doing. I promise each and every one of them that I will work to the end on this issue to ensure our citizens are protected.

I thank the AI committee. It brought a full and comprehensive report, including recommendations, to me. We will act on as many of them as we can. I think there were 85 recommendations. I thank it most sincerely for that.

As we pursue our ambitions in AI, I want to acknowledge that rapid technological progress brings real societal challenges, particularly with regard to privacy and the protection of fundamental rights. I know Senator Ruane has always felt incredibly passionate about this matters. The opportunity AI offers is immense but there is a responsibility to get it right. I promise I take that responsibility very seriously. It is important that AI is leveraged both for the greater good in business, in the economy and in wider society. That is why we have been actively working to put enablers and guardrails in place by increasing the awareness and understanding through trusted independent voices such as the AI advisory council. I encourage everyone to read its report. It worked incredibly hard and it gave me that report within days of the issue breaking. The report is very clear and concise. It has four clear recommendations which I intend to follow through on.

Of course the other tasks are to implement the EU AI Act, establish a new AI office here in Ireland and make Ireland’s voice heard in international AI governance forums such as the EU AI board. I have met it and set out our concerns. It is important to use the opportunity we have in the coming months with the EU Presidency. We are working really closely on that. It is great to have that opportunity in the coming months.

Digital and AI technology is transforming every aspect of our lives but not everyone has equal access to its benefits. In 2025, I introduced the charter for digital inclusion. It is a landmark step in Ireland’s mission to create a more inclusive digital society. The initiative emphasised the importance of partnership, particularly the role of larger businesses to support SMEs and to adopt and benefit from digital technologies. The charter reflects the UN’s principle of "leave no one behind" as outlined in Digital for Good: Ireland’s Digital Inclusion Roadmap. It sets out commitments for businesses and organisations to help to close the digital divide by promoting basic digital skills, equality and affordability, by raising awareness and by enabling access to online resources. I invite public bodies, businesses and community organisations to endorse this charter, adopt its principles and join in building a more inclusive digital future for all.

Artificial intelligence is a disruptive technology. I am acutely aware of the concerns regarding the impact of AI on the labour market. Its impact on the future of work is unfolding. The expert group on future skills needs report, AI and the Irish Labour Market, shows that Ireland is relatively more exposed to AI-related disruption than other advanced economies, with high exposure potentially among those with higher education attainment. It indicates that female and younger workers are more likely to be in roles that can be affected.

The research also found that Ireland's enterprise sector and workforce were adapting rapidly to AI, with strong demand for AI skills matched by solid supply. However, support rightly notes that the Government must continue to monitor and address any risks AI may pose to our workforce. I do not ever want anybody to think we are putting our heads in the sand around this. There will be job displacement. Nobody is saying there will not. Working along with the Minister, Deputy Lawless, however, we are establishing the AI observatory, which will look on a research basis at the jobs mostly likely to be affected, try to mitigate against that by upskilling and reskilling, and look in what other directions we can encourage people to go.

My Department, the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, and the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council are undertaking research on the potential impacts of AI on key sectors in the Irish economy. The final report is due to be published early this year. What is clear is that the development of new capabilities and capacities in the workforce will be necessary as it is very likely that new job types will emerge. Ireland has always had an agile and adaptable labour force, however.

Government's priority through targeted investment in reskilling and upskilling initiatives is to empower our workforce with the skills needed to thrive in an AI-enabled economy and meet the demand of evolving roles. We will also create an observatory dedicated to monitoring the use of AI across enterprise, working in tandem with the new national skills observatory. The observatory will guide the development of future enterprise and jobs policies. Through these initiatives, we will ensure that our workforce is supported and equipped to adapt as roles evolve, while enabling our enterprises to stay competitive in an AI-driven economy.

I thank Senators for their forbearance. To conclude, artificial intelligence should drive innovation, but it must be safe, inclusive and trustworthy. I welcome the announcement of the European Commission this week that it has opened an investigation into Grok and the misuse of AI to generate appalling deepfake images. It is a prime example of how trust can be eroded and why governance is so important. The Government will continue to work hand in hand with business, experts and, most importantly, citizens because our vision is clear - to build an environment where AI and digital innovation empower our people and strengthen our economy and society in a way that is ethical, inclusive and sustainable.

I thank the Minister of State for her attendance in Seanad Éireann for this debate on artificial intelligence. It is an issue that is of concern to many people across the country, particularly given the issues over the last couple of weeks with which the Minister of State has been dealing. I thank all the Members for their participation in the debate.

When is it proposed to sit again?

Tomorrow morning at 9.30 a.m.

Is that agreed? Agreed.