Laura Harmon (Labour)

I thank the witnesses for their contributions this morning. It has been very insightful to hear from all of them. There is certainly a load of food for thought and topics that the committee needs to discuss. It is fair to say that inequalities exist for disabled people in Ireland with or without AI. It is very important that AI does not contribute to widening this inequality gap and that we use it to close the gap and make sure society is more inclusive, including through education. Many of the witnesses mentioned the stark figures relating to our workforce and how we are at the bottom of the EU table in terms of disabled people in employment. The political system and civic participation and participation in voting and elections is also an area that needs to be looked at to see whether AI can contribute to it.

I have a number of questions and my first is directed to Voice of Vision Impairment. It was mentioned that less than 25% of visually impaired people are in employment in Ireland, which is a very stark figure. Paid AI services and how they are often inaccessible due to financial costs was also mentioned. How would Voice of Vision Impairment propose that this be dealt with? An additional allowance was mentioned. Could this be introduced with a cost of disability payment, for example? I ask the witnesses to expand on this.