We all welcome the action that was taken after the death of Veronica Guerin. It is a pity it took that. I do not think there is anyone who has not welcomed the action taken against the Kinahans. We need to see more of it - quicker, better and faster. It is as simple as that. I have seen many instances of the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, taking houses or vehicles off people. Unfortunately, that is just the cost of doing business and they are back in operation the next day. As much as we are not going to police our w…

Artificial intelligence has made particular strides and jumps. It is in a place where we never anticipated being, if we are talking about two years ago. What we see across the board in the amendments is that they are about ensuring we have an AI office which has the capacity to be able to deliver whatever delivery looks like. A number of people, including Deputy Conway-Walsh, have said we need a huge level of skill sets. Obviously that includes technical skills, but skills are needed beyond that because artificial …

We are all aware of the huge dangers, which I will reiterate. The big one at the minute is the number of people who are worried – not from a technical point of view – about losing their job. If we are talking about an AI office, we must ensure there is significant capacity and that it engages with the State and all of its agencies from the point of view of fostering the skill sets that are required to ensure we can deliver AI solutions to improve workplaces and innovation within companies and everywhere else. A num…

What we need is a fit-for-purpose public system. I commend Deputy Kerrane on her work. Unfortunately, we had promises around affordability from the Government and at this point, we have neither affordability nor accessibility. It does not work for childminders. It does not work for childcare providers. It certainly does not work for those who work within it or the parents who are contacting all of us. A constituent wrote to me. She stated: I am writing to ask for your assistance regarding an urgent childcare issue …

Is dócha go bhfuil an Teachta Ahern óg go leor.

Tá an vótáil curtha siar go dtí an chéad am vótála seachtainiúil eile. In accordance with Standing Order 85(2), the division is postponed until this week's division time. Gabhaim buíochas leis na Teachtaí go léir.

Members of the Fórsa trade union working at the Oberstown Children Detention Campus will commence industrial action, including work to rule, tomorrow, 25 June, on the basis of issues with staffing and safety and capacity concerns. We have all heard about them. Reports of assaults are in the public domain. I have spoken to a number of people who work in Oberstown. What is the Government's response going to be? We need this place of detention to be safe for those who work in it and, obviously, for the children who ar…

I will again bring up the issue of water infrastructure in County Louth, particularly in Hackballscross and Sheelagh. With regard to the reservoir in Dunbin, there have been telemetric monitoring failures and an issue with pumps being unable to contact these monitoring systems. For a number of weeks, families have not had water for days. Farms have gone without water and schools have been closed early. It is not good enough. We need to solve this issue. Locally, Irish Water has told me that it has some of the issue…

I have met locally. What I am looking for-----

We have seen recently the Tánaiste's foray into united Ireland politics. I would like to think that would lead to a change in relation to Government policy. We all welcome that infrastructural deficits will be dealt with as a result of the shared island unit. We all want to see the likes of the Narrow Water Bridge and we also want to see whatever relationships can be built, but let us be clear, the one thing that we do need to see is movement towards constitutional change. This means preparation. It is sensible to …

True.

He is the Taoiseach. He has the power of the State.

Do something on unity.

I am saying the State.

I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak on the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Bill 2026. It has been said by many previous speakers that AI is just a reality we are dealing with. Even though some people worry about it, we are a long way removed from Skynet coming live, if anyone remembers the glorious days of "Terminator". We all know the issues with the tech sector. When we talk about AI, we know about the part that crosses over into the issues we are having with social media. We know there is a re…

I could go on for a lot longer but I will not.

The Minister of State has accepted that dental care, especially orthodontic care in this State, particularly that provided by the public system, is not fit-for-purpose in any way, shape or form. I do not know how many times we have all been in here talking about the DTSS. The fact is a person is incredibly lucky on a medical card if he or she can find a dentist and avail of it, but we have all seen that even in those cases, a person may be offered an extraction at times instead of a filling, on the basis of how not…

I ask the Minister of State to provide an update on the progress of the establishment of a new autism assessment service. We all know about the issue that exists. We are talking about more than 20,000 on the assessment of need waiting lists, many of them over the six months in which that should be provided legally. There are a huge number of parents out there who can get neither an assessment nor the therapies their child requires. We really need to solve this for the parents out there.

I ask the Minister of State to give the exact timelines when she gets an opportunity again-----

-----because, obviously, it is vital that we see this. It is also a matter of knowing how these assessments will be made. Some have said they would be worried about how the assessment officer or whoever makes the clinical determination. It is about ensuring that there would be a sufficient amount of clinical backup. We all accept that if we were starting again, we would have to look at a different system as regards assessment of need and how therapies are provided. I have always had a worry about how we will try to…