Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The committee would welcome any further written submissions and detail. That goes for all witnesses as we progress through our discussions on the Bill. Any input in writing would be very welcome. I will start by asking a number of questions and then open questioning to members of the committee. Witnesses might want to note the questions.

I note to the departmental witnesses that one of the issues raised last week by the Minister, Deputy Bruton, was the need to be conscious of the nexus between the ministerial responsibility and the role of the digital safety commissioner. Are the witnesses in a position to elaborate on that? My understanding of what the Minister said was that he is there to put forward policy and to ensure it is delivered which would not be the role of a statutory body. I might be mistaken but perhaps the witnesses could elaborate on it. Has the Department had an opportunity to review Australia's Enhancing Online Safety Act 2015? Has there been any engagement with the Department's Australian counterpart as I understand the legislation there is working well? Common law issues arise in that jurisdiction which may be similar to issues arising here. Will the Attorney General's evidence be made available to the committee in respect of its work on this legislation?

I turn to the witnesses from Facebook. Facebook has said previously that it is broadly supportive in principle of the creation of a digital safety commissioner role and we welcome that. There are some issues around the definition of "extraterritorial" and the effect of that on the legislation. What has Facebook's engagement with Australia's eSafety Commissioner been or are the witnesses in a position to expand on that today? How is the process working?

It seems to be working very well. There is very little conflict. I heard an interview with the Australian digital safety commissioner in which she said that her engagement with social media platforms has been very good and quite effective, to the point that fines are not always needed. I do not think she has ever used fines. Her engagement with social media platforms has been very positive. I would welcome the views of the representatives of Facebook on the company's interaction with the Australian setup.

I thank Mr. Meade of Google for his comments. I ask him to expand on his request for the Bill to be as platform-neutral and technology-neutral as possible.

Do the witnesses from the ISPCC have a breakdown of the most common complaints? Can they provide any figures for the complaints which are coming before them? Do the complaints relate to cyberbullying? It would be useful for the committee to get a breakdown.

The need to define what constitutes "harmful communication" has been a common thread throughout this discussion. I appreciate that it would be difficult for the witnesses to formulate a definition here. The committee would welcome any assistance that the witnesses who are in attendance today could provide with regard to the definition as we move forward with this legislation.

When Ms Cooney spoke on behalf of CyberSafeIreland, she referred to "the ethical and safe design of any new apps" and to "digital literacy". I would be concerned that if this legislation is too broad - if the digital safety commissioner has too broad a role and too wide a remit - it may be less effective. It might be preferable to limit our endeavours in this regard to the areas of online content focused on in this legislation. A narrow focus is needed, certainly initially. If we need to build on that remit in future years, that could be done. I would be cautious about extending the remit in case it becomes too wide because it would not be effective in such circumstances.

I would like to get the witnesses' views on that. I have also asked for their views on what constitutes "harmful communication" and for any data or information that might be available to them in this regard and could be provided to the committee. After they have responded to my questions, I will bring in Deputies Stanley and Lawless.