Patrick O’Donovan

Successor to pilot programme will see 2,000 new eligible artists receive payment of €325 per week for three years

‘Anxiety’ for existing recipients as first scheme draws to a close this month

Catherine Cross, of the National Parents Council, described the introduction of bans on young people accessing social media as ‘a blunt instrument’

Any system brought in to verify identification will be hacked

X criticised by rival social media groups over snub to Oireachtas committee after controversy over Grok nudification feature

Cabinet also to hear how age-verification social media pilot for under-16s could start within weeks

Meetings came after European institutions suspended contacts with Chinese group’s lobbyists in Brussels

France this week passed a Bill that would ban social media use for children under the age of 15

Nine will go to the United States including the Taoiseach, who is expected to meet US President Donald Trump

An expert report into the council’s botched €6.7m IT project found ‘no one shouted stop’ in its boardroom

Mistakes by senior management largely blamed for waste of €5.3m and system ultimately being abandoned

Coco’s Law bans sharing of intimate images but does not appear to criminalise generating them

Irish Postmasters’ Union previously warned of widespread closures if monetary support was not increased

‘Deepfake’ intimate picture of former TV presenter shared online during unsuccessful 2024 election campaign

Patrick O’Donovan commits to implementing 149 recommendations in expert group’s report ‘in their entirety’

Under EU Artificial Intelligence Act there could be fines of up to €35 million or 7% of global turnover for large tech companies found to be in violation of the regulations

The photograph has been understood as bearing a special relationship to truth. Not any more

Under Elon Musk, X is a vast disinformation network, a hotbed of extremism, a radicalisation tool. And now its chatbot is a creator, publisher and distributor of awful material

Business case for initiative had understated costs and failed to include VAT or expense of streamlining

Patrick O’Donovan says he has deactivated his X account over concerns around Grok

Minister Helen McEntee says Ireland must call out US’s ‘challenging behaviour’

Patrick O’Donovan’s proposal around ID verification comes from a good place but could cause problems

Plus: National Concert Hall can’t stop the music; and a Clarewoman at Sellafield

There is a sense of being caught between outdated structures and increasingly unstable new realities

Ex-adviser to Ross takes issue with comments, saying sports bodies ‘roundly opposed’ O’Donovan’s 2016 plan

One of the many negative effects of the housing crisis is making Ireland a cold place for culture in all its forms

Ireland is in a highly precarious position as we head into 2026, on the faultline between our allies in the EU and the US administration and Big Tech

Anyone expecting a social media ban for Irish teenagers will be waiting and it’s not because we are bad parents 

AIM Ireland believes Government tax incentives to develop indigenous music industry should be explored

Similar initiatives elsewhere include the Vietnamese Women’s Museum and Glasgow Women’s Library

Social media ban on under-16s a ‘sticking plaster on gaping wound’, Dáil hears

Patrick O’Donovan is to brief the Cabinet on plans to introduce a ‘digital wallet’ pilot programme to verify the age of social media users

Civil liberty and digital privacy campaigners question legal basis for proposed digital wallets

New measures are designed to protect the elderly and people with disability, in both home and care settings

‘Era of platforms shrugging their shoulders and blaming the algorithm is over,’ Coalition source says

Attorney General is to advise on proposed age verification system but senior Government figures stop short of backing Australia-style ban

Parents and schools are working together to impose community-wide bans on smartphones until their children reach certain ages

Almost 20,000 fewer licences purchased in year to end of November compared with same period in 2024

Instagram and Facebook start closing accounts of young people in Australia believed to be under 16 following ban

Coimisiún na Meán review outlines the familiar pressures on RTÉ