Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Commissioner. I will ask a couple of questions as I do not see any other member indicating. First, I will make a point to the Commissioner. In our overview of the law in the European Union, an enormous focus of the submissions we have received has been in relation to the perceived impunity of some countries in taking legal actions against their citizens in a way that to us violates the norms and values of the European Union. I welcome the Commissioner's explanation of how these things will be tackled but I think we need to ensure our own citizenry understands those values will be defended robustly.

On the media platforms, I have a related but different question from Deputy Ó Murchú. We have enacted in Ireland in the last number of months anti-harassment and online bullying legislation. The debate has focused on the notion that there must be a responsibility on providers of the platforms for such damaging actions. Maybe that is encompassed in the proposals the Commissioner has spoken about but I would be interested in hearing that the media platforms, similar to any publisher, would be responsible for bullying, harassing or damaging commentary about any individual. Will there be scope to take action against them?

On the Commissioner's report on our domestic situation, I as Minister introduced the Regulation of Lobbying Act and it is a robust piece of legislation. The final piece of legislation I introduced in that sphere in 2016 was the ethics in public offices Bill. It was an amendment Bill which was passed at Second Stage but has never been reintroduced. The Commission might have a look at raising that with the Irish authorities. It is an important final stage, learning from everything we can learn from, including commissions of inquiry and so on.

On the European Public Prosecutor's Office, I am interested to hear where that is. It was to be established in 2017. The latest date I saw was this month. Is it to commence operations in Luxembourg this month? Two impediments were described by our Government to account for our non-participation. The first was the point the Commissioner made in relation to us being a common law jurisdiction and the difficulties in that regard. The second was a constitutional difficulty which may require a constitutional amendment here. I do not know if the Commissioner has had those discussions with the Irish authorities and can enlighten the committee on those.