Results 441-460 of 1,020,208 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Garret Ahearn OR speaker:Paul Donnelly)

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Artificial Intelligence (23 May 2024)

Richard Bruton: As the Minister well knows, artificial intelligence will rapidly disrupt established ways of doing things as it integrates into our world. It will disrupt education and its delivery, but it will also disrupt many workplaces and create skill needs. To what extent is this now anticipated? What planning and strategies are being put in place?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Artificial Intelligence (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: Ireland's national AI strategy, AI - Here for Good, launched in 2021, outlines how Ireland can be an international leader in the use of artificial intelligence to benefit the economy and society. The strategy is founded on three core principles, namely, adopting a human-centric approach to the application of AI, staying open and adaptable to new innovations and ensuring good governance to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Artificial Intelligence (23 May 2024)

Richard Bruton: I appreciate that there is a strategy in place but that strategy is four years old and, with the pace of this, changes occur within months. The enterprise committee, of which Deputy Stanton is also a member, heard this week that only 5% of companies are engaged in any sort of reskilling for the onset of artificial intelligence. We need an accelerated programme in areas such as Skillnet...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Artificial Intelligence (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I do not disagree with the Deputy, particularly in the context of the European Union's European Year of Skills and the volume of skills that either cannot be met or are under threat. AI has the best of both worlds. It is something to be embraced but it is also something to which we will have to adapt in our education system, particularly in further and higher education. I do not disagree...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Artificial Intelligence (23 May 2024)

Richard Bruton: To give the Minister an example, we had the major consultancy firms in before the committee. They have every staff member now going through a process of understanding and equipping themselves to deal with the disruption, and opportunity, indeed, of artificial intelligence. Will the Minister of State consider putting some of his senior staff through a programme such as that in order to build...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Artificial Intelligence (23 May 2024)

Catherine Connolly: Before the Minister comes in, there are a number of supplementary questions.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Artificial Intelligence (23 May 2024)

David Stanton: I strongly support Deputy Bruton in what he is saying. This has been called the fourth industrial revolution. I was at the committee meeting to which the Deputy refers. The amount of funding the companies are putting in here is staggering. Billions upon billions of euro and dollars are being spent by the large multinational companies in this area. It is going to change everything and it...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Artificial Intelligence (23 May 2024)

Bernard Durkan: The importance of this question goes without saying. In particular, we must consider the rapidity with which artificial intelligence is likely to affect the workforce in production activities all over the globe. Competitors around the world are availing and will avail very quickly of the opportunities on offer. At this stage, what is most important is to have a strategy that kicks in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Artificial Intelligence (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank Deputies Stanton and Durkan for their inventions. Going back to what Deputy Bruton said regarding what happened at the committee with the consultancy firms, I will certain review it and have a look at it. However, "Yes" is the answer. Deputy Stanton referred to this being a fourth industrial revolution. The last time, we had the introduction of robotics and all of a sudden people...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Artificial Intelligence (23 May 2024)

Catherine Connolly: Deputy Bruton had his two supplementaries but he can make a comment if he likes because we are not under pressure.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Artificial Intelligence (23 May 2024)

Richard Bruton: I will make one comment. To paraphrase the OECD, the leaving certificate is preparing young people to be second-class robots. Now that we have this new pace of change crashing upon us, we really have to take it very seriously.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Artificial Intelligence (23 May 2024)

Catherine Connolly: The Minister is not getting the last word as we are moving on.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Artificial Intelligence (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: That is fine.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Artificial Intelligence (23 May 2024)

Questions Nos. 9 to 12, inclusive, taken with Written Answers.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (23 May 2024)

Further and Higher Education

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (23 May 2024)

David Stanton: 13. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to further expand and develop further education courses for people with disabilities and those seeking to avail of second-chance education and training; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23290/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Further and Higher Education (23 May 2024)

David Stanton: I want to give the Minister an opportunity to let us know what good work is taking place in his Department and at third level in order to expand and further develop further education courses for people with disabilities and for others who are seeking to avail of second-chance education and training.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Costs (23 May 2024)

Patrick O'Donovan: I am sure Deputy Boyd Barrett would accept that we are on the one page on this issue. I never thought I would be on the same page as People Before Profit on anything but I imagine that the Deputy would subscribe to the idea that where resources are limited and finite, they should be targeted toward the people who need them most. Thus, it is on a means-based, targeted system, which is what...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Costs (23 May 2024)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes, but this needs a whole-of-government approach. It cannot just be the Minister. If we do not have early intervention for children with special needs, the costs down the line for the rest of society will be huge. There has to be holistic thinking. If we get people trained in areas like the allied health professions and as nurses, doctors, teachers and so on, we will save society a lot...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Education Costs (23 May 2024)

Mairead Farrell: I remember when the student contribution charge was brought in. Everybody knew it was fees by another name. Realistically, it is long past time for it to be removed. Instead, what we saw in the last budget, which surprised me, were more one-off measures. We are past the time for that; we need to do better than one-off measures. We need to hear a commitment from the Government that...