Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

The Senator can share the details with me, but I encourage her to share them with Minister, Dara Calleary. I will convey to the Minister the thoughts, views and, more importantly, the sentiments of what the Senator has put forward in her argument. I know that if the Minister can do anything on an individual basis for that family, he will try to ensure that their case is expedited as quickly as possible.

We have a big opportunity within the public service to create efficiencies. I have no doubt that all of the officials who deal with these applications are buried in paperwork. If digitalisation and AI can remove the drudgery of that work, it would allow officials to adopt a human-centred approach to these applications when they consider them. It would allow them to take stock of what a family is suffering and give the family the adequate support they need in a timely fashion, meaning we all win.