Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The agenda item for consideration this afternoon is engagement with stakeholders on the protection of children in the use of artificial intelligence. We are joined this afternoon by the following stakeholders: Professor Barry O'Sullivan of University College Cork; Ms Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, special rapporteur on child protection; Ms Alex Cooney, chief executive officer, and Ms Clare Daly, board director, from CyberSafeKids; Dr. Johnny Ryan, director and senior fellow, and Dr. Kris Shrishak, senior fellow, at Enforce, a unit of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. Ms Cooney is joining us remotely. I welcome our witnesses and thank them for their attendance. I apologise for the late start as a vote in the Dáil delayed us slightly.

I will go through our normal housekeeping matters before we start. I advise members that the chat function on MS Teams should only be used to make the team on-site aware of any technical issues or urgent matters that may arise during the meeting and should not be used to make general comments or statements. I remind members of the constitutional requirement that as they must be physically present within the confines of the Leinster House complex in order to participate in public meetings, I will not permit a member to participate where he or she is not adhering to that constitutional requirement. I ask any member who joins us through Teams to first confirm he or she is on the grounds of the Leinster House campus.

In advance of our guests giving their opening statements, I advise you all of the following in relation to parliamentary privilege. I need to point out to witnesses appearing before the committee virtually that there is uncertainty if parliamentary privilege will apply to your location outside of the parliamentary precincts of Leinster House. Therefore if you are directed by me to cease giving evidence on a particular matter, it is imperative that you comply with any such direction. The evidence given by witnesses and members from within the parliamentary precincts is protected pursuant to the Constitution and statute by absolute privilege. They are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable or otherwise engage in speech that might be regarded as damaging to the good name of the person or entity. Therefore if your statements are potentially defamatory in relation to an identifiable person or entity, you will be directed to discontinue your remarks and it is imperative that you comply with any such direction.

As that completes our housekeeping matters, I will proceed with the meeting. The order for our witnesses will be Professor O'Sullivan first, followed by Ms Gallagher, Ms Daly and Dr. Ryan. When the opening statements are finished, we will open it up to members. I call Professor O'Sullivan.