Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth. How wonderful to say "Minister" before her name. I am delighted to see her elevated to this position. This is a proud time for her family and for County Cavan. I believe she is from Bailieborough. I often see it on her social media. It is a proud day for her community to have one of their own not just in the ministerial ranks but holding the seat of Government during this session. It is a proud day and I am delighted to see her in that position.

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this debate. It is really important that Ireland has a stronger position insofar as artificial intelligence is concerned. Whenever we see the Head of State of the most powerful and richest nation in the world, America, he is surrounded by the so-called tech brothers. They are dictating policy on AI and all things digital at this time. It is important that this debate is happening not just in Ireland, but across the European Union, that we are keeping pace and that we are doing so in a safe fashion.

There are great advantages to AI and I will speak to them in a moment. However, there are also some risks. One of these is the risk to citizens' rights. There are very fine lines to be drawn here and balances to be struck. There is also a digital divide. There is an advertisement on TV at the moment in which a walrus rides in a speedboat. I was doing an advice clinic in a bar the other day and this came on. I was meeting an elderly person and helping with an issue and this person asked how that was done. I said it was AI. There are all sorts of distorted content and information going out there already. We have only scratched the surface with AI. It is going to get deeper and deeper. This is the best and worst time to be a young person in this country. The opportunities are immense but the distortion of what is real and what is fake or artificially generated poses a risk. I also think about job security. This Government and the previous Government have a proud record. This country is doing well with job creation and retention. It is important that we do not foster a culture in which jobs are displaced by artificial intelligence but we do have to move with the times. It is very important to strike a balance. There is a national strategy on artificial intelligence.

The programme for Government commits to a national strategy on the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. That is absolutely crucial. It could be transformative. There is a company in Shannon, MeiraGTx, that takes tiny vials of DNA and alters the genetic path of a person. Some women will unfortunately have a genetic predisposition towards breast cancer. Others may be predisposed to bowel cancer or have another family medical history. This company has a way of detecting that early on and providing genetic treatment for those people. I would love to get us into that sphere, where not all drugs are generic but some are actually tailored to one's family history and propensity to develop certain illnesses and diseases. That is important. However, before we get to the 21st century of AI in healthcare, we first need a digital records system for all patients. More is known about the health of my car than about my own personal health. If you go into the Department of Transport, you can scroll through screen after screen of NCT reports. These will tell you how much wear there is on the front bushes or rear axle of my car. They can tell you everything but there will be no record of my heart, lungs or whatever. If such records do exist, they will be in a paper file, with some in a GP practice filing cabinet, others in a local health clinic and some in the hospital. It is important that we develop a collated digital database so that, when we present anywhere, a digital file goes with us. It is also important to say that, where those digital files do exist - there are not many of them - they are specific to hospital groups. The Minister of State is from Bailieborough. If she were to come down to our region, the mid-west, and present to one of our hospitals, none of her digital files or patient information would be available. This should be a centralised national system.

In the little time I have left, I will speak on a slight tangent, although I am sure the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach will give me a bit of liberty. I am hoping to bring in a Bill from the back benches relating to pornography. I recently met with a group of parents. They are all brought into school at this time of year to talk about Internet safety. I was a teacher myself for long enough. There is one thing that really bothers them. Pornography is there and probably will be there forever. I do not think anyone could really and fully control that. However, there are elements of pornography that are absolutely sick and disgusting. Rape and violence against women are depicted in pornography. As a country, we should follow the lead taken by other nations in banning that. Just as child pornography is absolutely banned across the world, we should be banning this type of pornography. There is nothing normal or mainstream about it. It is sick and anyone looking it up should get their head checked. An Garda Síochána would also be quite interested to see what kind of shady characters are looking this up. There is work to be done in that space and it is something I hope to do by way of a Bill.

See this speech in context