Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank all of our witnesses. It has been an interesting debate. It is important that the Data Protection Commission is truly onboard and feels that this legislation is airtight. My concern is that if we continued with things as they are, there would be huge problems when it comes to prosecution if data protection was to be broken. There is a lot of work to do at the Department's end to make this more airtight. Ms Cronin spoke earlier about privacy and how people's privacy is broken. My honest opinion, which comes from being chair of the committee where we did the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill, is that the horse has bolted regarding people's data and their images. If I walk down O'Connell Street, there are people taking video footage of the street and the buildings. Kids are using their phones all of the time. To a certain extent that is impossible to roll back. I feel incredibly sorry for An Garda Síochána, which has a real job trying to fight crime with two hands tied behind its back while the world and its mother can use whatever data they like. Yet and all, so many Garda resources are being encumbered and burdened by something that technology could help and assist in the fight against crime. That is the most important thing. Everybody around this table is in favour of trying to assist that fight against crime. One example is those who were involved in what we saw in the riots in Dublin.

I will go back to the initial point about the use of technology. We can get the concerns of the DPC and everybody around the table, and do more work teasing that out with the Department. We could be prepared and in the best possible position to give An Garda Síochána the strength to do that because it is unhelpful. The other side is that the criminal world is using AI to its advantage. There are then the law-abiding citizens and those who are there to protect the State. It must feel like the most futile job in the world trying to do that against those who are using it for negative purposes, and who have a free hand in it. That is more of an observation than a question.

Having heard all of the observations and concerns, does the Department feel that it can do more work to strengthen the legislation to answer most of the concerns around the table, not break any EU law, have the support of the DPC and give An Garda the strength and support and use of AI it needs to do its job? We also have a shortage of gardaí, which feeds into all of that.