Mr. Ryan Meade:

-----and for reading the research. The research we launched yesterday came from Implement Consulting Group, which has looked at the potential economic opportunity for Ireland of generative AI. It paints a very positive picture overall. In terms of benchmarking Ireland against peer countries across northern Europe, it shows that Ireland has some strong foundations in the operating environment for businesses, the Government strategy and infrastructure. Where there is a slight warning signal is around the innovation drivers, as the Deputy said, which are things such as talent, research and development. That is not to say we are way behind any of these peer countries but it is about looking to the period ahead when people will be adopting AI and reaping the benefits. Will Ireland maintain its strong leadership position? That is the question.

The talent in our workforce and the research and development in our universities are issues that the Government has focused on over the years.

The picture now is that this is a new wave and we need to refocus and re-energise those efforts. What we have tried to do with our funding for the Insight research centre, which is across all Irish third-level institutions, is to provide a scholarship fund that will allow students from under-represented communities to take advantage of courses that are related to this area. That is a really important thing to drive the pipeline of future talent in this country.

Again, with talent we always have to think about the great advantage Ireland has in terms of remaining open to the rest of the European Union and the rest of the world with respect to bringing the best people here and so on. The Deputy is right to highlight that and I think it is something that should be given very serious consideration. However, I think some of those things can be addressed by simple adoption of AI technology. The more businesses are using the technology, the more talent is available to be drawn into research and development and so on.