Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also want to join with my colleague, Senator Seery Kearney. Many of us were watching the screens in our own offices and were absolutely stunned by the treatment of Senator Clonan. Children who have a disability deserve to be treated like any other child or citizen of our country, whether this is in relation to getting services from the HSE or having their representative table a question in the Dáil or a Commencement matter in the Seanad. I was shocked that Senator Clonan was threatened with having to leave the House. He is not a lone ranger. He has support from across the House for his hard work and advocacy for children with disabilities. In this case, he was discussing children with scoliosis who are waiting for surgeries and those who have been left permanently paralysed. It is a really important issue. Obviously, the Minister sometimes has issues with his diary. However, I am asking the Leader to ensure there is a debate in this House on the treatment of scoliosis and the waiting list, because it is so severe. We are really lucky in this House to have a Senator like Senator Clonan, who is fighting for our children with disabilities.

I came to the House today to discuss an issue I read about this morning, namely, the really concerning use of AI. I read about a colleague down under, Georgie Purcell, whose breasts were increased by AI and the image was used on national television. This sort of editing is massively undermining of this colleague’s work. It is a new low for democracy and women and a modern political democracy. I was disgusted for her that this was allowed to happen. In Ireland over the next few months, we are facing an important referendum to widen the scope of families and carers, as well as local and European elections. There are dozens of challenges to democracies around the world in various countries. The proliferation of the use of AI as a tool for political disinformation is real and it is worrying. We must do everything we can to ensure the accurate and truthful depiction of information is published online. I welcome the EU legislation published earlier this year in the form of the AI Act to regulate AI. I support my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, in his call for Ireland to seek to host the EU office for the regulation of AI. I want to stress that I do not think we can wait for this legislation to be enacted before we commence an aggressive public information campaign about disinformation, AI-generated fake rumour-bombing and other sinister tools, thereby dismantling untruths. We need to teach the public to challenge and question everything they see online when they are in the safety of their own homes and are scrolling online. Our failure to challenge and question online discourse leaves us as sitting ducks and has the potential to destroy our hard-won, very young democracy.