Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)
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As my colleagues have done, I wish the Cathaoirleach the very best of luck. I also welcome our guests from Research Ireland.

I am looking forward to working with all committee members on a cross-party basis. We all have a single goal in mind. We all want to see how best Ireland can utilise this technology. We must ensure Ireland does not just keep pace but leads in the global roll-out of this. This will require a lot of investment in infrastructure and education. Most importantly, it will require skills. We need to prepare our workforce now for roles that have not yet been created and that will probably not exist for three or four years. I hope we work on this as a committee.

The potential for this is extremely exciting. There are reservations around the table, among myself and my colleagues, about how it will be rolled out, but the potential outweighs everything. There is potential for data points for healthcare diagnosis to speed things up, for education and developing skill sets for our kids and for people who are neurodiverse. The potential this will open for all of them will have us in a very different place in five years' time. We are not on the crest of the wave; the wave has passed and the water is over our ankles. In the coming months, it will be up to our knees and will sweep us along with it. We need to ensure that we and the various Departments are in the best position to utilise and harness the benefits.