James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)

I thank the witnesses. This has been an interesting discussion. Understandably, a lot of the questions have focused on risk. Something that perhaps goes missing in the narrative in Ireland is that within Europe we are operating within an AI regulatory framework.

That framework is not the same as those in China or the United States. We have a real opportunity in Europe when it comes to providing certainty on how AI is being regulated and benefiting the most from innovation. The uncertainty in the United States is damaging and hampering innovation. Ireland has a real role to play in leading the debate in that regard. Mr. Lowry referred to how respected Ireland is in the data-sharing space. That is a clear area where we have shown leadership, retained investment and seen the development of technology companies at home and abroad

When it comes to the public sector, the Chair and I recently attended the Digital Summit in Tallinn in Estonia. We discovered that in comparison with Estonia, Ireland is in the digital stone age. That is the reality. To be fair to Ireland's public sector, however, a lot of the public sectors in other EU countries are also in the digital stone age in comparison with Estonia in the context of what it has done regarding its digitalisation agenda. In Ms Cassidy's opinion, are the guidelines ambitious enough to drive Departments to adapt to AI?