Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank both witnesses for their presentations. I do not wish to repeat any of the questions asked by my colleagues. It is very welcome to see the EU, in all its force, kicking in and supporting its member states in response to the pandemic.

There is an adage about never letting a crisis go to waste and using it as an opportunity. Commissioner Margrethe Vestager announced some weeks ago that she has major reforms planned for December on making platforms responsible for the content individuals such as you and me post on them. It is a question of ensuring very large technology companies do not take advantage of their size so their business models will perform better than those of competitors.

The report issued yesterday, Technology and Democracy, which is the understanding the influence of online activity on democracies across Europe and the rest of the world, indicates Facebook knows more about me than my husband of 25 years, which is a bit mad. Are Ms Vestager's ambitions brave enough? Will the member states support her? Will her proposals be realised sooner rather than later? Normally across the EU and its institutions, it takes ten years for a really good idea to be implemented. I am really keen to see us use the opportunity arising from this crisis to get something positive out of it.