Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

I will raise the issue of AI. My experience in the Dáil is that the Government is in thrall to AI. That is obvious from any discussion that comes up about data centres or AI. AI is killing critical thinking and creativity and it is being designed by billionaires whose ultimate aim is to get rid of a lot of jobs. We are seeing that already in many sectors where AI has been introduced. I am disappointed the Department of education is embracing AI in the way it has done. I do not know how any teacher could teach in the current environment, especially English teachers, which is what I was.

On the impact of the assessments, one of the things ASTI members wrote to me about was the fact that a lot of the assessments are journals. They are not actually assessing skills and practical abilities in home economics, science or whatever. We have all seen how journals can be just pulled together with help. Has any research been done by the unions into the impact of assessments on working class students? I taught in a disadvantaged area for many years and felt huge pressure to spend a lot of time on those assessments because the students had to go into the exam with some marks and they were already so disadvantaged. Have there been any studies on the impact of the teaching?