Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to make a final point. The gaps here relate to the lack of joined-up thinking. Perhaps not completely a lack of joined-up thinking, but, rather, a question as to how everything fits in the context to the witnesses and their Department, the Department of Justice and the social media companies. There are many different actors and stakeholders. Whose responsibility is it to bring everything together to ensure that the consumer is protected? The weakness lies in getting that right across the board.

Information was provided by AIB, but the other banks have not reported back yet. The information the committee sought is extremely interesting regarding the social media companies and their hands-off approach to all of this. If there is a big piece missing there, who will ensure that all of those involved are accountable? It seems like everybody and nobody is responsible at the same time. There is no one arm of Government that is saying, “This is where the responsibility lies to ensure that we are protecting our consumers and citizens against that”.

I have a final question. Regarding preparation within the Department for AI and what that will mean in terms of being able to do quick analysis but also the financial fraud threats that it poses, how far are we thinking ahead?