Ms Noelle O'Connell:

I thank Mr. Kiely, Deputy Duffy and Senator Chambers. I will not repeat Mr. Kiely's comments - he has dealt with many of the questions - but I will respond to Senator Chambers on the youth unemployment figures and the very stark reminder of the risk this coronavirus pandemic will potentially create a lockdown generation, as it has been called, with young people being disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

What we have seen with the youth guarantee and a reinforced youth employment support package, which the European Parliament has supported, is an agreement to bring in measures to reinforce that youth guarantee and look at improving vocational education and training, a renewed impetus across member states for apprenticeships and additional measures to combat youth unemployment. As we saw only last week, Eurofound, the EU agency in Loughlinstown, held a very timely conference following on from its cross-EU survey in terms of looking at the impact of Covid on young people, mental health and employment and education opportunities. The EU is very much minded to introduce and implement measures to ensure the impact on young people is lessened.

I mentioned disinformation waves in my address. As Mr. Kiely noted, we saw the joint communication from the Commission and the high representative following on from the March Council summit about how EU institutions will work to target the disinformation waves that have hit Europe during the coronavirus pandemic while ensuring that, as democratic societies, we deal with that challenge. In particular, the external action service has an "EU vs Disinformation" website, we have a rapid alert system that the European Parliament, the Council and other EU institutions and member states have set up in terms of using those established channels and looking at an EU integrated political crisis response to dealing with this in addition to partnering with international partners such as the World Health Organisation and the G7 rapid response mechanism because it is not simply a challenge facing the EU and its member states and institutions. It is a global challenge and one on which the EU must continue to partner and collaborate with international institutions and fight back against this. The EU has stepped up to the plate and has become more active and engaged on this issue, which we certainly welcome.