Ms Deirdre Clune:

I thank the Chairman. On the rule of law and for the Commission’s report to have teeth, I am not sure if I am quoting Ms Daly when she said that it does not have teeth. It will be an annual report that contributes to the debate and discussion to help people who will be voting one way or another on these issues. What would really have teeth is if budgetary funding was linked to the rule of law. That is an area in which we can be of influence.

On Deputy Ó Murchú’s point on Brexit there is support in the Parliament on this issue.

On aviation, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and European Aviation Safety Authority, EASA, are preparing and looking at testing procedures for airports with the objective, under the Commission’s supervision, to arrive at a unified approach across Europe. I hope that the Government will tie in with that because it is important that we have a testing regime that is the same in every country and that there is, in effect, co-ordinated quarantine, restriction of movements, or whatever is required not for now, when we are in a really deep situation with the pandemi, but when we do start recovering and where some countries are green, some are orange, and some are red. This will give confidence to getting aviation back, which we know is essential.

On Senators Doherty’s report on the rise of disinformation, it is very important that the digital services Act and the digital markets Act that are due to be published in early December would move through the European Parliament very quickly. I know from the Internal Market committee that I am on, that we have done many reports in preparation for this, as have other committees such as the legal affairs committee. The European Parliament knows its position. It is more than ready. There has been much public consultation on this as well and we are ready for this legislation when it does come through and I hope that we will get an agreement. The European Parliament will move towards arriving at its final position so that we can move forward on dealing with matters online, whether it is information or selling products, or the dominance of key players or gatekeepers. All of these questions need to be addressed and answered. There is a real appetite to do so as quickly as possible. I thank the committee.