Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms McSweeney for appearing before the committee today. Following on from yesterday's meeting, it is very clear from what the Minister has said, what was already known to this committee and what the company has confirmed today, that the biggest problem we have, in terms of people vindicating their good name, whether in the print or social media, is the inaccessibility of the court system in this country. That is where our basic problem lies. If something is printed in a newspaper about one or put up on Twitter, unless one has substantial amounts of money at one's disposal, one cannot go to the Four Courts. We can have all of the policies, practices and procedures in place that we want but it is not realistic to expect, for example, that on the back of a billion tweets, every account can be deleted. A more realistic approach would be to try to make our courts service more reflective of today's society. People need to have access to the courts and for me, that is the nub of this debate rather than whether we need to take a nanny-State approach.

I am reminded of an episode of "Father Ted", where two people are outside a cinema shouting, "Down with this sort of thing". I know this is a very serious issue but there is a temptation here to put the spotlight entirely on the wrong area. If people are trying to vindicate their good name in the face of something said about them in print, on the radio or in social media, the actual medium is not the problem but the difficulty of accessing the court system.

Does Twitter have a corporate responsibility fund or a social fund to raise awareness of these issues? Is there a voluntary code of conduct in place between Twitter and other companies and providers? Is there any engagement by Twitter with some of the stakeholders dealing with younger people?

I draw the committee's attention to an article published in last Monday's Irish Examiner , which quotes a spokesperson from the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals as follows: "The social networks ought to have a dedicated liaison officer whose job it is to take calls from schools and parents and act promptly in deleting offensive posts". Does Ms McSweeney have any comment to make on that?

In general, in terms of where this committee is going with this issue, we should be talking to the Department of Justice and Equality, the Bar Council, the Law Society and others and finding out why it is so expensive to take a case in the Four Courts to clear one's name.