Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will raise two matters. First of all, I ask for a debate on health. At this moment in time, there is industrial action within the HSE but it is not getting an awful lot of publicity. It is not being talked about but there are real-life consequences. While I would not, for one moment, condemn industrial action, the reasons for it need to be discussed.The reasons for it need to be discussed and we need to have this debated on the floor of the House.

I am chair of a drugs task force and many of the other chairs around the country are experiencing similar issues to the one we do, whereby there is a freeze on acting up. There is an instruction that no one is allowed to act up. In light of the recruitment freeze, we cannot fill posts and people are not allowed to act up. There is a situation where the Government announces major funding in the budget and the money is there for drugs task forces around the country but in many cases, that money cannot be availed of because there is no one to distribute it in a managerial position in the HSE That is having serious consequences for the delivery of services on the ground. I am appalled that there is little publicity about this. We need statements in the House on this, on what is going on and on how this will be rectified.

I welcome the decision by YouTube, which was announced this afternoon, that it is bringing in a system whereby there will be regulation of synthetic content; that is, artificial intelligence-generated content. That is a major source of the spread of misinformation. Especially as we come up to elections, there is a probability that misinformation and false narratives will go out in such a way that will affect voter sentiment. YouTube is one of the major players in all of this that is finally taking actions and I commend that.