Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise as I have to leave straight after this contribution but I will read the transcript afterwards.

With regard to Luddites, I have to be very careful because my husband has something of an alternative view. He says the Luddites were simply heroes who understood technology. They get bad press very often.

With regard to the FSU report, with which our colleagues from ICTU will be familiar, the FSU carried out a study to determine how technology is now monitoring workers at work. The surveillance of workers at work is not new but the technology to establish, to the level of detail in question, whether they are happy, sad or stressed is very new. Does ICTU believe the EU AI Act will deliver the necessary protection from excessive surveillance of workers at work?

There is currently no forum or oversight body for AI in this State. We have gone through what GovTech will do. Strictly speaking, what must be done is not the role of the digital advisory forum either. A very helpful and useful suggestion was made by Deputy Stanton, namely that it would be very useful to have a joint committee to examine this issue specifically because it is incredibly broad. With regard to oversight, what else can we do in the short term and what would the witnesses like to see at this stage, conscious that things are moving fast and that it sometimes takes a while to establish a committee? My first question relates to excessive technological surveillance.