Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming before us. Their presentation was excellent and has certainly gone into many of the issues we have been exploring and that we have put to the various service providers over the past couple of weeks. With regard to the point about comments made on Hill 16 or terraces during a football match, when it is said, it is finished. However, when it goes up on the Internet, it stays there. That is where some of the issues arise.

The witnesses quoted some of the judgments going back to 2005 where it was possible to trace IP addresses. The technology exists for false or malicious information to be put up on the Internet. It has been available for ten or 15 years and is not a new phenomenon, and while some have claimed it is not possible to get that far in investigations, that is fictitious, for want of a better word.

With regard to the cases, including legal cases, the witnesses have put before us, there is very little knowledge out there among those who are using the Internet. In the past couple of weeks, we have tried to explore this and address the legislative gap with every group that comes before us. There seems to be a whole raft of legislation governing this area. As a committee, we want to highlight this and make people aware of the evidence of today's witnesses, given the detail they have put before us. It is fantastic to see all of the judgments and the quotations they have provided. We need to highlight this in any way, shape or form we can. Again, it was an excellent presentation.

The witnesses spoke about perhaps changing the legislation in an already overburdened system. If there were one or two issues on which they were handed a blank page and asked to highlight issues with regard to ensuring those who use the Internet are protected fully, what would they be?