Ms Sharon Casey:

I use it very little. I had the good fortune to be a mature student and did a module on what the Internet is doing to me. The legends who taught that module frightened me. There was a programme about data on "Prime Time". I was talking about that issue two years ago, not fully understanding it but having been shown it in a lecture. I am 56. I told my friends to clear their cache before they buy their train tickets with Irish Rail. They asked why. I am sceptical. I can see there are benefits to AI. I was a late adopter of forums such as Facebook or whatever else. Most of the people who encouraged me to use it are not using it themselves now. I know my way around devices.

I was on a trip with my dad earlier this year. I asked for his permission to say the following. I booked the tickets. We went with Ryanair. I printed off his boarding pass and it was with his passport because I should not be in charge of him. He is well able. He uses a walking stick because he needs to but his cognitive abilities are good. If we take a similar trip in November, I will have to take full control and have all his things and mine. That really frightens me.

I am doing workshops with our members on the decision support service. I have to tell them that to get in through mygov.ie, they need an email address. Our members tell me they do not have email addresses and ask how they can access the service. I am delighted we are before the committee and able to raise some points but it is not just private companies we need to consider.

It is also services within the State, that for very good reasons have to increase security, but forget some of the people who had emails and were able to function on mygov.iecannot use it now because they need a smartphone with an authenticator app and they do not have that. It is really important. When we think of ourselves, we have someone who helps us with our IT. Most of us here get our software package for free and can call on someone for help. I was at a workshop-----