Regina Doherty (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and everybody in attendance this morning.

On the point made by Ms Daly, MEP, the relationship Irish people have with the EU is probably as good as it has ever been. That is because we have seen the relevance of a positive impact of the EU. Unfortunately, that is just on Brexit, because before that all we ever heard was negative stuff, in that the bowsies over there were making us do this and that and we did not want to do this or that. We need to capitalise on this positive aspect and disposition of Irish people. The idea Ms Daly has about Oireachtas TV and making issues relevant to the value of the work all these representatives are doing, who are all very relatable to the Irish public, might greatly help. For pig iron, Fidesz should be gone and that should have happened and if the EPP were in any way serious, it already would have done this. This just needs to be said.

The issue of migration is enormous for Commissioner Ylva Johansson and for the Commission but until member states actually start to change the way we talk and the narrative around migrants, change will not happen. When the really positive impact of migrants on our economy and society are outlined instead of the negativity and the rabbit hole that we sometimes end up going down, particularly around direct provision, I hope that we really can change. This narrative has to be changed by all of us and not just by the State. It has to be changed by communities and sport organisations as to the value of migrants coming into this country in every aspect of our society. The way they have enriched all of our lives needs to be talked about as opposed to just relying on them to pay for our pension or to keep our economy going. They make a significant positive impact.

Ms Walsh talked about the rise of this disinformation and the massive impact it has on discrimination across many platforms but also the real threat that it poses to democracy. Margrethe Vestager has a number of Bills and new laws that she is bringing forward in November and December. How quickly do our guests think that these will be enacted? How positive do they think will be the impact on some of our major social media platforms, and indeed on some of the major Internet business platforms, in terms of the transparency of how they do business and the algorithms associated with what they try to promote, etc.?