Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach and join with him in welcoming the children here this morning. I hope you enjoy your visit to your House today.

I am calling for a debate with the Minister for Justice on the exchanges between An Garda Síochána, X and Coimisiún na Meán regarding the protests and riots in Dublin city centre on Thursday, 23 November. Addressing the Dáil on 29 November, the Minister stated that she had spoken to a detective from Pearse Street on the previous Saturday who was actively engaged with the social media companies, including TikTok, Instagram and Facebook-Meta, on Thursday, 23 November. She said that TikTok and Meta had responded by taking down posts about the stabbing and the fallout but that X did not engage and did not adhere to its own community standards. Coimisiún na Meán was established in order to make sure that these companies are held responsible. X's global government affairs team said on Monday that what the Minister said is inaccurate and stated that it had, in the context of its own rules, taken a proactive stance and removed more than 1,230 pieces of content relating to the riots. It stated:

We met with the Coimisiún na Meán on November 24 to discuss our response. The Gardai did not make any formal requests to us until late Monday 27th November. We responded promptly.

The only appeal we have received from the Gardai relating to the enforcement of our rules is for a single post.

We hope the Minister will clarify her remarks.

Obviously, these statements are mutually exclusive. Either the Pearse Street detective was actively engaged with X and was, ergo, able to report that X did not engage, or X's global government affairs team is right in stating that the Garda did not make any formal request to it until late on Monday, 27 November.

The Houses of Oireachtas and the people of Ireland deserve to know the truth of the situation. I understand that the Department of Justice press office offered the following response yesterday when asked about this apparent contradiction, when it stated:

Minister McEntee was relaying concerns directly raised with her by frontline Gardaí who were working on the day of the riots.

The Minister will continue to engage with An Garda Síochána on these matters, and looks forward to directly engaging with X.

Here, the Minister's claims are not restated. Looking in from the outside, one could be forgiven for thinking that the singling out of X by the Minister might have something to do with Elon Musk's outspoken criticism of her Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill and that she was engaged in the type of political-----