Malcolm Byrne

I certainly welcome the measures that have been brought forward, which are quite comprehensive and are targeted at the most vulnerable. I wish to highlight two issues that have been raised by others. One is the case of those who are involved in agriculture. Given the costs our farmers are facing, particularly with regard to fuel and the increasing cost of fertiliser, we need to find a package some…

2. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the most recent meeting of the coalition of the willing in support of Ukraine. [74069/25]

I welcome the fact that Ireland will continue to contribute in whatever way we can to addressing Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. We need to co-operate in a number of specific areas. One such area I want to instance is cybersecurity. Like many other European countries, Ireland is regularly on the receiving end of cyberattacks emanating from Russia. At our meeting of the Committee on Artificia…

Hear, hear.

The Minister of State articulated very well the purposes of this Bill particularly in implementing elements of the European Media Freedom Act. It is important to note that Ireland has always performed well on press freedom indices. Reporters Without Borders, RSF, which is journalists making their own assessment, has placed Ireland’s ranking over the past number of years as "good", which is the top…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to enable the state to accede to the Antarctic Treaty done at Washington on 1 December 1959 and to certain related instruments, including the protocol on environmental protection to the Antarctic Treaty done at Madrid on 4 October 1991; and to provide for related matters. The Antarctic Treaty (Accession and Implementation) Bill pr…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

I thank the Minister of State for being here. He is well aware of the problems that have existed for a number of years. Somebody could work in a childcare facility and, at the same time, could be training juvenile athletes as well as being involved in a stage school involving young people. For each of those roles, that person would require Garda vetting. In terms of bus drivers and certain types o…

I thank the Minister of State very much. With all due respect, I do not think we needed a review group to operate for five years to tell us that. It is something I think we all knew. We needed a more efficient system. The Federation of Irish Sport, charities and community organisations have been saying for a long time that there should be a very simple vetting process. Anybody who is working with …

11. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Health the Government strategy to raise awareness of haemochromatosis. [17294/26]

I am somebody who has haemochromatosis. I was very lucky about ten years ago that I had the diagnosis. I was simply feeling fatigued. It was a general checkup and I was lucky that my GP decided to check my iron levels. It is a perfectly manageable disease, as Deputy Daly has pointed out, and I am very fortunate that I can have a venesection in my local GP's surgery. The challenge, particularly amo…

14. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Health the strategies in place to tackle the high levels of osteoporosis and fracture falls in Ireland. [17293/26]

The Minister has outlined what a serious issue it is, and the numbers impacted in this country by osteoporosis. We know there are approximately 32,000 fragility fractures every year and that is estimated to cost our health service approximately €464 million every year. That is not to forget the impact it has on the individual patients. Given our ageing population, if we do not address some of this…

To start, I agree entirely with the Minister that first and foremost in this debate our thoughts have to be with the 24,000 citizens of this country in the Middle East. I too commend the diplomatic teams working there to ensure their safety. This has to be our priority, and the Government is right in adopting that approach. Before I turn to the geopolitical situation, I will comment on a number o…

The current and previous Governments rightly committed to investment in the arts, including significant increases in funding to the Arts Council and expanding the basic income for the arts scheme. Indeed, the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, is to proceed with the arts capital programme later this year. I want to raise the question of funding for amateur theatre and musical movements around the country…

That is a compliment.

I move: That Dáil Éireann shall take note of the Report of the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence entitled "First Interim Report", copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 12th December, 2025. Tá áthas an domhan orm an chéad tuarascáil ón gComhchoiste Um Intleacht Shaorga a mholadh. Tá an teicneolaíocht iontach seo ag athrú ár sochaí agus is ceart go bhfuil an tír seo ag glacadh …

This has been a very informative debate. It reflects the nature of how our committee has worked. If we think about our role as legislators, our responsibility is towards the safety of our citizens and those who live here. It is about equipping people to be able to deal with the challenges that we face in our lives and in our workplaces. It is about supporting innovation and creating an environment…

This is an important debate in that it focuses attention on those within our school system who need additional support. We need to acknowledge the very significant progress that has been made in the increase in the number of SNAs from 16,000 in 2020 to where it will be over 25,000 this year. I also want to talk about the 16 new special schools that have been created since 2020, which are incredib…

I welcome the publication last week of the Government's AI and digitalisation strategy, which balances supporting innovation with maintaining trust and having the necessary guardrails in place. The executive chair of Coimisiún na Meán was before the Oireachtas AI committee today and he said that tougher laws are needed on AI-generated sexual imagery and further laws are needed on the misuse of int…

I welcome the publication of the Government's AI and digitalisation strategy but the issue relates to harmful products coming onto the market, as Deputy Joanna Byrne outlined. I appreciate we are going to be placing a lot more responsibility on the regulator but some of this has to be about putting responsibility back on the platform before the product or service is released onto the market. We ar…

I strongly the support the question raised by my colleague. It is critical that we enhance opportunities for those with a disability. I particularly encourage a further examination of the wage subsidy scheme. The Government made a significant increase in the context of budget 2026. Although it does not come into effect until the beginning of April, it could be considered in the budgetary process f…

Will the Minister establish an AI observatory to run in parallel with the national AI office to look at real-time figures with regard to jobs displacement and the skills needed for Ireland to avail of the opportunities AI presents?

I thank the Minister for the priority he has been giving to this proposal. As he says, the advisory council has strongly recommended it, as have those of us on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence. Change is happening at pace and things are happening quickly. We saw the recommendations within the Government's strategy on AI and digitalisation, which was published yesterday, bu…

I am hugely supportive of all of that. It is very welcome. It is unfortunate the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, cannot be here today but I welcome the fact that she is at the global AI summit in New Delhi. It is critically important that Ireland takes a leadership role in this space. There is already anecdotal evidence that we are seeing significant changes in the jobs market so I welcome the fa…