Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the Senator’s question on public ownership, it is incredibly important to bring the public with us in this debate on AI to ensure we do not leave a cohort of people behind. I am referring to much more than enterprise and trade.

On the governance structure, and as the Senator knows, we have adapted a distributive model for the implementation of the AI Act, and that is in recognition of the capacity and capability currently within the Irish regulatory system. It is a matter of leveraging this expertise in driving Ireland as a centre of regulatory excellence. All of the competent authorities will feed into the AI national office. We want to draw on the expertise we have already established among regulators in Ireland, and we want to ensure that by having in place competent authorities that feed into the national AI office, businesses with particular nuances and challenges – they are not the same across the board – will benefit. I know well from having been a committee member, and from sitting with Members who are now members of this committee, that the social media platforms to which the Senator alluded in her comments have certainly comprised the Wild West. Coimisiún na Meán is a good platform for Ireland as it sets out to regulate and protect our citizens, as is the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act.

I am not quite sure if I have answered the Senator’s question. If she wants more detail, I can come back to her.