Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Ms McSweeney to the committee and thank Twitter for coming this morning. I agree that Twitter has amazing potential for improving communications, along with other social media. Fingal County Council makes good use of Twitter. It is within my constituency and it communicates information about events such as flooding or interruptions to the water supply and people find that very useful. Other bodies could use Twitter in the same way.

The issue that repeatedly arises is when someone misuses Twitter and makes remarks that are offensive or untrue about someone who then feels aggrieved. I accept there is a helpline and people can communicate with Twitter but what if someone wants to find out the source of the tweet? Can tweets be traced? If the person who is aggrieved cannot do it, can Twitter do it?