Results 141-160 of 7,314 for speaker:Darren O'Rourke

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank the Minister of State for being here. Regarding the national AI office, the timeline is August 2026 and the Minister of State said 2 August which is a Sunday. Let us just work on August 2026 as the target date. Is there a broad outline of the remit and has it been agreed or refined?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: In terms of its staffing cohort, will it be new recruits or is there any sense of where that is at?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: And the remit. As things stand, it is going to sit within the Minister of State's Department?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: It will be independent of the Department. Regarding the relationship between the AI advisory council and the Department or the national AI office, the advisory council appeared before us last week and we got a sense from the general discussion that there was scope for refinement of its role and additional resourcing. Is the Minister of State looking at that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: A separate but related point is that there is probably scope to look at its role and how it will relate to the national AI office. My own sense of it-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank the Minister of State. There is a commitment in the national strategy under 3A. It reads: Commission research which analyses the potential impacts of AI (including generative AI) and other advanced technologies on key sectors of the Irish economy. The research will be forward looking and will identify sectoral use cases and make recommendations, including policy interventions to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: Will it be the ESRI? Will it run across Departments ? What will it look like and how long might it run for? I presume the Minister of State is saying it will start at the end of the year as opposed to reporting at the end of the year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: Yes. It would be a really interesting piece of work. If it coincided with our committee's work, it would be useful to see and could be complementary.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: A number of the other objectives in the strategy fall to different Departments. Principally, I see a lot in the Department of public expenditure and reform on artificial intelligence in the public service. The strategy is there and was born out of the Minister of State's Department. We do not have the national office up and running yet. The Department of public expenditure and reform has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: But in terms of the national strategy for AI-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: Does the Department intend to publish performance indicators or updates on how progress has been made?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I drew a comparison the last time I talked about the Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council and the Climate Change Advisory Council. In the previous Dáil term we looked a lot at how we penetrate across all of government with a new way of operating, of assessing risks and of developing policy, for example in response to the climate and biodiversity crisis. Lots of new pillars were...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 170. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide an update on the new building for Dunboyne College of Further Education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37298/25]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Health and Safety (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 403. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of updating the safety in school science guidelines. [37292/25]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Facilities (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 404. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of bringing secondary school science labs up to date and modernised for the new senior cycle reforms. [37293/25]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Equipment (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 426. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of providing an allowance covering the cost of a device (details supplied) for each child in a school that teaches using such a device rather than traditional textbooks. [37697/25]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Equipment (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 427. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of a pilot programme to cover the cost of a device (details supplied) per student in all DEIS schools who teach using such devices rather than traditional textbooks. [37698/25]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Equipment (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 428. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of a pilot programme to cover the cost of a device (details supplied) per student in 20 school’s irrespective of DEIS status who teach using such devices rather than textbooks. [37699/25]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 433. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of reintroducing the allowance for teachers teaching Irish in Irish-medium schools since after 2012. [37751/25]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Funding (8 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 434. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of increasing extra support for those learning Irish as an additional language. [37752/25]