Eoin Hayes (Dublin Bay South, Social Democrats)

I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment. I do not think I have seen him since he was appointed. To start on a positive note, I strongly endorse his view on EU-UK relations and cultivating those across the islands. He is right. It was a very different context in 1972 and I am glad to see we are in a different place. Hopefully, we can continue in that vein.

Other European states have differing views on foreign affairs. There is concern about a loss of faith in the European project as a form of peace building and going further together. In that context, I will address democratic resilience and the democracy shield. There is a difference between EU obligations and national obligations and there is a balance between those two. Ireland has a unique role as the home base for many of the big technology companies that are responsible for the information environment and social media. In its role as the digital services co-ordinator for the measures outlined in the EU Digital Services Act, Coimisiún na Meán has only appointed one trusted flagger, namely, the Central Bank, which is focused solely on financial fraud. No Irish flagger has been appointed regarding misinformation or disinformation despite the presence of social media companies here in Ireland. How does the Minister of State and the Government envisage the role of the EU in maintaining a healthy information environment in member states? More importantly, how can Ireland lead on this regarding the regulation of social media companies on behalf of the EU?

The other main issue that also concerns technology is the digital services tax. As the Minister of State probably knows, the US Administration has disengaged a bit from the BEPS process, which was the basis of a standstill on implementing the digital services tax among the member states. It seems as though the standstill has not extended past December 2024 and has now expired. On 21 February 2025, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum calling for domestic investigations into potential tariff retaliations against countries that have implemented digital services taxes. The US aims to relocate taxing rights to country of establishment of the US companies, thereby preventing an EU country from taxing US companies on revenues generated in the EU. What is the Minister of State's opinion on that? Was there any discussion of that at the meeting of the General Affairs Council? Has there been discussion more generally on responding to the US and is there a united and firm view? Will the EU's initiative on a digital services tax be taken up again? Is there some level of co-ordination rather a fragmented approach to some of these national initiatives?

To follow up on what Deputy Michael Murphy spoke about, one of the things I have been conscious of is the take-up of funds across the EU. We are lucky in that the EU does have a lot of funds such as the CAP, which is the one we talk about most in Ireland. There are lots of other ones as well. The cohesion policy outlines several funds. I would like to get an understanding of how the Minister of State and his officials have carried out the analysis of how those funds are being taken up. I am particularly conscious that in the research and development space, we may not have taken up many of those, and likewise in the entrepreneurial space when it comes to industrial policy.

As a data centre for the EU, having all this data and AI in Dublin and Ireland more generally has a technology and energy load. Has there been any discussion on Ireland's unique shouldering of that demand, on energy security and on powering EU technology across the EU? Are there any other policies such as cohesion policy or investment that reflect our unique position?