The topic is on the agenda for discussions between Mr Carney and Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin in the context of expanding relationships between the two countries.<\/p>\n
The Government also recently published its new national digital and AI strategy which lists 90 \u201cdeliverables\u201d in preparing Ireland for the brave new world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are commonalities between the two national strategies. Both feature programmes and policies to improve AI literacy among the population.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both outline measures for scaling up the use of AI in businesses and in the public sector, and both address the requirement for improved digital safety and consumer protection and regulation. There is also an acknowledgement of the need for ongoing research in both strategies.<\/p>\n
One significant difference, however, lies at the heart of Canada\u2019s strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A key objective is to protect sovereignty by reducing dependence on foreign providers of AI technology. No equivalent goal appears in Ireland\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n
Mr Carney warned that \u201cAI could be weaponised against us\u201d before he went on to outline measures that would reduce the risk of that happening.<\/p>\n
Canada plans to build a \u201cworld-leading\u201d public supercomputer that would be secure and accessible for Canadian researchers and businesses. The Government will also support the building of large-scale AI data centres to serve Canadian clients, with a goal of significantly enhancing computing capacity by 2030. It plans to halt the brain drain by funding AI research at its universities, attracting highly skilled AI workers from elsewhere by offering fast-track entry and residency, and investing directly in Canadian AI companies.<\/p>\n
The context in which Canada\u2019s strategy emerged helps explain this emphasis on self-reliance: Canadians have had to watch the president of the US repeatedly refer to their country as the 51st state, while attacking longstanding trade and diplomatic norms.<\/p>\n
Canada has also been a global hub for AI research and home of pioneering figures such as Geoffrey Hinton, often described as the \u2018godfather of AI\u2019. Given these factors, it is hardly surprising that Canada believes it can, and should, reduce its dependence on the US in this critical matter.<\/p>\n
Ireland\u2019s position is different. Our technology sector remains intertwined with US investment and expertise. Much of the infrastructure that powers AI systems in Ireland is owned and controlled by American technology giants.<\/p>\n
It is not realistic to think that Ireland could replicate Canada\u2019s approach. However, working alongside our European partners, it may possible to develop greater strategic resilience and reduce vulnerabilities in an uncertain technological and geopolitical landscape.<\/p>\n
The results of this year\u2019s litter survey, produced by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL), were generally positive. For the first time since the surveys started back in 2002, no town or city fell into the \u2018seriously littered\u2019 or \u2018litter blackspot\u2019 categories. Two areas, Dublin\u2019s North Inner City and Cork\u2019s Northside, previously categorised as litter blackspots, have moved into the \u2018moderately littered\u2019 band.<\/p>\n
The country has come a long way since IBAL was founded 30 years ago on the premise that our continued economic prosperity, particularly in the areas of tourism, food, and foreign investment, was contingent on a clean, litter-free environment. Back then, newspapers frequently ran stories about visitors \u2014 tourists and potential investors \u2014 being horrified at our litter-strewn streets and beauty spots.<\/p>\n
The plastic bag levy, introduced in 2002, reduced the once-common spectacle of shredded bags, clinging tenaciously to tree-tops, hedges, and lampposts. IBAL credits local authorities and tireless Tidy Towns volunteers with improvements of recent years. However, some problems persist.<\/p>\n
Despite the success of the deposit return scheme, plastic bottle and\/or can litter was found in around one fifth of the sites inspected by An Taisce for the survey. Cigarette butts continue to be a major source of litter, while another persistent problem \u2014 disposable coffee cups \u2014 has yet to be tackled in a meaningful way. An estimated 500,000 single-use cups are discarded every day in this country, with most ending up in landfill or incineration. Too many end up on the ground.<\/p>\n
A proposed \u2018latte levy\u2019, intended to curb the use of disposable cups, has remained in limbo since legislation enabling it was passed in 2022. With households under pressure from the cost-of-living crisis, there is little political appetite for an additional charge. But the scale of the problem cannot be ignored. The progress made in tackling litter shows that behaviour can change. The challenge now is to apply that lesson to the sources of waste that continue to blight our environment.<\/p>\n
With the Fifa World Cup kicking off on Thursday, a sizeable chunk of the population will be busy figuring out how many of the 104 matches they can feasibly squeeze in before the final on July 19. Many others prefer to scan programmes and book tickets for the music, literary, and community festivals now in full swing up and down the country.<\/p>\n
Evidence strongly favours getting out from in front of the television and into the heart of a live event.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, University at Buffalo researchers used the term \u2018collective effervescence\u2019 to describe the feelings of wellbeing and social connection experienced by people attending live music events.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They found that the positive feelings did not come entirely from what the performers give to the audience, but from what the audience unwittingly share among themselves. The sense of connection and \u201ca sensation of sacredness\u201d felt by people when they are in a crowd, engaged in a shared experience, like a live musical performance, was real and lasted long after the last encore.<\/p>\n
Similar effects have been noted among attendees at sports events. Academics at Anglia Ruskin University in England found that attending live sporting events resulted in higher scores of two major measurements of subjective well-being \u2014 life satisfaction and a sense of life being worthwhile \u2014 as well as lower levels of loneliness. And if live music or sport don\u2019t appeal, fear not; similar boosts to social, mental, emotional, physical, and even spiritual wellbeing have also been found among people who attend book festivals.<\/p>\n
The message is clear. Whether it is a concert, a local match, a book festival, or a community gathering, shared experiences help forge social connections, combat loneliness, and lift our spirits.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Enjoy the World Cup, but make time to get out there and become part of the crowd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The topic is on the agenda for discussions between Mr Carney and Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin in the context…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[4409,111],"class_list":["post-80110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-artificial-intelligence-ai","tag-mark-carney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}