Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

AI is an enormous issue of enormous consequence for the future of Ireland and the future of the world in terms of economy and society. Its impact will be as significant as the industrial revolution of the 19th century. I spoke to the Minister of State, Niamh Smyth, on this after the committee meeting. Certainly, we will give consideration to this.

I did attend the AI summit in Paris. It was a significant and enormous event involving governments across the world and was co-hosted by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, and President Macron. There was also a lot of private sector involvement in the conference. I have met a lot of companies in the last while recently and there is absolutely no doubt that the impact of AI on work, behaviour and the economy will be profound. We need to be very clear about the regulatory environment but also see if there are areas in which we can develop particular strengths, given the strengths we already have in human capital on AI and in terms of some of the industries we have here, too.

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