The Government will today confirm its intention to introduce age restrictions on the use of social media.<\/p>\n
This will form part of a new Digital and AI Strategy that will be considered by the Cabinet.<\/p>\n
The plan will place a strong focus on online safety and it will confirm that legislation is on the way to restrict social media for under 16s.<\/p>\n
This is set to be priority for Ireland’s EU presidency and while the Government’s preference is to move at a European level, Ireland will take action regardless.<\/p>\n
The first step is a pilot run of an age verification tool which will see young people involved in a trial to assess how it will work in practice.<\/p>\n
The strategy will also emphasise the need to keep legislation under review to address certain AI technologies which act as tools to intimidate and harass.<\/p>\n
The Government will engage with European Commission to ensure the list of prohibited practices under Article 5 of the EU AI Act remains fit for purpose amid the growing power of AI.<\/p>\n
House price limits for local authority home loans<\/p>\n
Minister for Housing James Browne will update the Cabinet on plans to increase house price and income limits for local authority home loans.<\/p>\n
These loans are for first-timeline buyers and fresh-start applicants who are unable to get sufficient funding from commercial banks.<\/p>\n
The changes will set a new house price limit of \u20ac415,000, up \u20ac55,000, in D\u00fan Laoghaire Rathdown, south Dublin, Dublin city, Fingal, Wicklow and Kildare.<\/p>\n
There will be a \u20ac375,000 limit, up \u20ac45,000, in Cork city, Cork county, Galway city and Meath.<\/p>\n
In Clare, Kilkenny, Limerick, Waterford, Westmeath and Wexford, the new limit will be \u20ac345,000, which is also a \u20ac45,000 hike.<\/p>\n
There will be a \u20ac15,000 limit increase in Galway County and Louth.<\/p>\n
Carlow, Cavan, Donegal, Kerry, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo and Tipperary will have a \u20ac310,000 limit, which is a \u20ac35,000 increase.<\/p>\n
Also, the income limit for single income earners will rise from \u20ac70,000 to \u20ac80,000.<\/p>\n
Since February 2018 just under \u20ac715 million has been drawn down by just almost 4,400 borrowers through various local authority mortgages.<\/p>\n
But in 2024 local authority mortgages accounted for less than 1.4% of the first-time buyer market.<\/p>\n
It is understood Mr Browne believes these loans can help far more people to purchase homes, particularly in provincial towns and villages.<\/p>\n
Ryder Cup funding on agenda<\/p>\n
Minister for Higher Education James Lawless is bringing a memo to Cabinet on the national programme for students with intellectual disabilities.<\/p>\n
The courses help students build independence, life skills and work readiness, with supported work placements and accredited learning.<\/p>\n
Backed by \u20ac11m in funding, it has enrolled 193 students across 11 higher\u2011education institutions, surpassing the original 160\u2011place target.<\/p>\n
Minister for Communications, Culture and Sport Patrick O’Donovan will inform the Government of funding for Adare ahead of next year’s Ryder Cup.<\/p>\n
This investment is aiming to secure a lasting legacy for the Limerick village.<\/p>\n
It includes funding of up to \u20ac5.7m for legacy projects, including the refurbishment of Adare Village Hall and Heritage Centre and the enhancement of public areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government will today confirm its intention to introduce age restrictions on the use of social media. This…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-303644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}