Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, for coming before the House to take this matter. He is aware we are in the middle of a period of radical technological transformation, where we are seeing a convergence of a range of new technologies from artificial intelligence to blockchain to 6G and the Internet of things. Today I want to talk about the metaverse, an augmented and virtual reality, and the extent to which the State is prepared to operate in such a sector.

As there always is with new technologies and opportunities, there are disputes about the value of the market and what will happen in that space. Bloomberg, for instance, estimates the market will be worth approximately $800 billion by 2024. Facebook has rebranded as Meta, and it has already committed $10 billion to the project, including the hiring of 10,000 workers for its European operations. Mr. Bill Gates last December predicted most meetings within two to three years will take place in the metaverse. We have gone from Zoom to appreciating a few meetings as we get back but this will be transformational.

To give a picture of what we will see happening, we will have immersive shopping experiences. Rather than Members necessarily having to go to stores on the main street, they may be able to put on augmented and virtual reality devices to carry out shopping. In education, learning will be done in that way so if we want to learn about the events of 1922, we will be able to put on a headset and immerse ourselves in the experience. I even suggest that at some point in the future, we could hear Commencement Matters where my avatar in a virtual parliament could pose questions to the Minister of State's avatar. That might cause a few frights around this House where, during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was an insistence on Members being on the parliamentary campus. I am not sure how such people might react to this.

Some people might think this is far-fetched but much of this is happening. In the gaming world, Minecraft has a 140 million monthly active users. The biggest gig in the world last year, when we were pleading to keep theatre and arts venues open, had 12 million people on Fortnite at the same time. Seoul has already committed as a city government to operate in the metaverse as part of South Korea's digital new deal. In November, it announced that a variety of its public services and cultural events will move to the metaverse. We have seen the rise of crypto assets and non-fungible tokens. The key for Ireland is a need to strategically respond to some of these.

I welcome the Government's digital strategy that was published yesterday, although there is no mention of the metaverse in it and there is no real mention of augmented and virtual reality. There is much positive stuff nonetheless. It is key for us to see a whole-of-government approach in this area. I want to see us exploring how this will happen. The Government's digital strategy talks about nurturing digital start-ups and we need to see how we can support start-ups and existing companies that may want to do business within the metaverse.

We must address a series of matters around regulation and these are similar to challenges we are facing in other aspects of technology. These concern questions of privacy and cybercrime, and there has already been a case of sexual harassment in the metaverse. We must look at the potential impact on social engagement as we do not want people behind screens and headsets all the time. We must be able to interact on a one-to-one basis. We will need upskilling and reskilling.

We must be ambitious. Our strategy in dealing with new technologies must be about looking at where we will be in 2030 and 2040. At times I wonder if the Government is underestimating the speed of change we are experiencing in technology and the scale of the challenge and opportunity ahead of us.