First off, congratulations to the President.
It will be lovely to hear the patter of little feet around the corridors of Áras an Uachtaráin again.
No, no, Michael D isn’t making a comeback.
He’s happy out in Galway, coping with a deluge of speaking invitations and invites to all sorts of ceremonies while planning to record his second spoken-word album.
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Just a week ago, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Atlantic Technological University at a special ceremony on its Connemara campus in Letterfrack.
“We are profoundly grateful to president Higgins, not just for his advocacy, but for his tangible contributions to our students. From gifting storm-felled timber from the Áras to inspiring student creations like the presidential inauguration chair, he truly embodies how education can elevate an individual to lift up entire communities around them,” said Maura McNally, chair of the university’s governing body.
Also honoured was international design pioneer Mary V Mullin, a highly influential figure in design education.
But back to Uachtaráin Catherine Connolly, who has also had good week.
What could be as good as getting elected President of Ireland? Becoming a grandmother for the first time, that’s what. The Áras has confirmed that the President, who has two sons, welcomed a baby granddaughter to the family on Monday.
No other details supplied but our source tells us that Her Excellency is over the moon and beyond thrilled.
AI-generated debate
AI. AI.
Oh.
The Dáil had a lively debate about artificial intelligence on Wednesday.
Three Independent Ireland deputies spoke: Michael Collins first, then Ken O’Flynn and, finally, Richard O’Donoghue.
Collins and Flynn were quite passionate on the subject, accepting AI’s potential for good but expressing serious reservations about the dangers and downsides of its growing influence on people’s lives.
Deputy Collins began with a stroll down memory lane.
“As a young fella, when I was growing up, AI had a totally different meaning in west Cork to what it is today. When we were talking about the AI, we were looking after the animals and, I suppose, eh, trying to bring, eh ...”
Richard O’Donoghue, in the next seat, couldn’t keep a straight face as his colleague wrestled with explaining artificial insemination to the Dáil.
“ ... new, eh ... type, eh, animals into the world. But it’s artificial intelligence that it’s called now. I don’t know what they’re going to call the AI man now. The Bull Man it was down my way.”
Whatever it’s called, Michael Collins has grave reservations about the misuse of this technology in everyday life.
“AI is a powerful tool when it is used correctly, or so I am told because I don’t use it at all myself,” he declared.
Richard O’Donoghue is also very worried about the march of AI. He talked about school students using it to do their homework and systems being put in place to identify this.
“Again, technology is good and it can help with research and all the rest, but now we have to put things in place to make sure it is actually the person who is doing it,” he said, as his colleague Ken O’Flynn listened intently.
“And that’s not only for children and students. It’s also for people that are in their jobs at the moment. It’s also for people that are in this House. How many of them are using AI? How many of them have used AI to do their speeches today?”
Ken twiddled and untwined his fingers furiously, suppressing a smile.
“I didn’t,” said Richard.
Fine Gael’s Joe Neville, awaiting his turn, approved. He looked down at his own speech and nodded across to Richard.
“A pen and paper.”
“Good man,” he replied, adding that paper doesn’t really mean anything. “If you have the pen in front of you, that’s what makes the difference.”
The TD for Limerick County explained that he prefers to speak without a load of pages in his hand because he wouldn’t want people to think his script was AI-generated.
Ken’s twining fingers were still twirling.
No, said Richard. What you see is what you get. “What comes out of my mouth is what I’ve researched myself and I’ve never used AI.”
Sure do you know what happened during the week? Somebody forwarded a thing to him and said “‘Richard, you look great there at that function.’ I wasn’t even there.”
He still couldn’t believe it.
“’Twas another me,” he revealed in incredulous tones. “This is the part that scares me.”
Where AI is concerned, he was adamant: “When people look in at this House, they want to see real people delivering real results that they have researched themselves and that are not AI-generated.”
All this would have been diverting to hear but unremarkable, had he not spoken straight after his finger-twiddling colleague O’Flynn, who is the Dáil’s leading AI enthusiast. Ken had just read his speech from a clatter of pages.
“My colleague has spoken about the positives and negatives of AI. I want to concentrate more on the technicalities of the Bill,” is how he began his rather technical contribution..
According to the Oireachtas website, the Cork South-Central deputy has by far submitted the highest number of Parliamentary Questions so far this year – having submitted 3,592 questions or 10 per cent of the total 35,752 asked by TDs.
No wonder there were smiles around the chamber when Richard went on his anti-AI rant.
Green jersey
Ireland officially takes over the European Union presidency in four days’ time, but the influx of EU politicians and their extended retinues of Eurocrats and diplomats and God knows what has already begun.
On Wednesday, European Parliament president Roberta Metsola arrived with the leaders of the parliament’s eight political groupings in tow.
Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher was among them as he is currently the acting leader of the liberal centrist group Renew Europe. (Nul points for originality with that name.)
There were lots of meetings in a busy schedule, but the highlight of their trip was a visit to Croke Park, where president Jarlath Burns and director general Tom Ryan filled them in on the GAA and its history and everyone was invited to swing a hurley stick without injury.
Each group leader received a gift of a jersey from a county with a connection to their home country. Metsola, who is from Malta, was delighted with her Laois jersey.
“It’s the most excitement the Laois jersey has seen since 1915,” remarked one smug onlooker from a country with a well-stocked trophy cabinet. (Laois won the All-Ireland hurling championship in 1915.)
Terry Reintke, co-chair of the Greens/European Free Alliance group, is from Gelsenkirchen in Germany. She was delighted when she opened her presentation box to find a Limerick jersey. This was possibly to do with the link between Dromcollogher and Dresden porcelain.
“Look. It’s green. I am a Green!” cried MEP Reintke, immediately donning the Limerick jersey. At which point, all the guests put on their jerseys.
They gave Billy Kelleher a Cork hurling jersey so he wouldn’t sulk.
Also present was Minister of State for Employment and Small Businesses Alan Dillon. A fine footballer, he played in Croke Park with Mayo on many occasions, but the county hasn’t won All-Ireland silverware since 1951. Minister of State for Sport Charlie McConalogue stoically made the trip too, still licking his wounds after Donegal’s loss to Dublin last weekend.
After a tour of the GAA museum, Jarlath Burns, who is from South Armagh, gave Metsola a rundown of the association’s turbulent history.
“It might have differed a bit to the one given to Queen Elizabeth when she visited Croker in 2011,” said our Gael on the sidelines, with a pint of stout in one hand and a Ferrero Rocher in the other.
Yogi Taoiseach
Labour’s Conor Sheehan notched up a first for the Oireachtas on Wednesday morning when he hosted a Himalayan meditation workshop in Leinster House.
“Meditation for Leadership Resilience” also marked International Yoga Day. The session was led by Shree Shivkrupanand Swami, a globally recognised meditation teacher and spiritual guide and a member of the World Meditation Foundation’s expert committee.
Baba Swami has held meditation sessions in parliaments around the world in recent years. Wednesday’s session in the AV room included a 30-minute discourse on the true essence of yoga and mindfulness and mental wellbeing for leadership resilience.
They then had a 15-minute practical meditation experience after which the guru took questions.
“He had what I think is good advice for politicians: basically shut your mouth for 30 minutes in the morning and do Himalayan meditation. I think we could all do with that – talking less and listening more.”
It seems most of the politicians were too busy talking to check it out. Those who attended included Catherine Callaghan, the FG TD for Carlow-Kilkenny and Senators Frances Black and Margaret Murphy O’Mahony.
“Baba Swami” certainly looks the part with his long grey beard and serene, smiling face. Conor had an interesting take on him.
“He sort of reminded me of an older Micheál Martin.”
The Labour TD for Limerick City enjoyed the meditation. “It was nice to get half an hour without my phone.”
He feels that TDs could do with decompressing and taking time out to think.
“Look at the ruaille buaille that happened last year over the voting rights. Everyone could have done with some mindfulness and meditation back then ... I think that maybe Simon Harris and Pearse Doherty should do some Himalayan meditation together.”
This is true. The Tánaiste and Sinn Féin Deputy leader have some ferocious clashes in the Dáil when they square up every Thursday at Leaders’ Questions.
There was a slight glitch during Wednesday’s session when the Seanad bells went off at full blast in the middle of the meditation. Some of the visitors thought it was a fire alarm and stood up, but the guru barely stirred.
Deputy Sheehan told them to keep going. Which was the right thing to do.
Fat chance of the Seanad ever catching fire.
Row like a Viking
The Norwegian parliament scored the political video of the week when MPs performed the “Viking Row” inside the chamber in support of their World Cup squad.
Their equivalent of our Ceann Comhairle, speaker Masud Gharahkhani, dictated the rhythm with sharp taps of his gavel and the politicians rowed and Viking roared in unison with tremendous gusto.
The team has qualified for the knockout stages.
What would the Dáil do if we found ourselves back at the World Cup Finals?
Oireachtas rowing? With a pronunciation change?
But where’s the novelty in that – happens all the time. It’s called Leaders’ Questions.
Verona Murphy dinging on her little bell, very little unison, TDs roaring and rowing with each other.
Maybe they could stick to the seafaring theme, sit on the floor and do Rock-the-Boat. They’d be good at that.
Or the Hokey Cokey or Oops Upside Your Head or The Hustle or ...
Maybe just an óle chorus, for safety.
