Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

For most people, social media can be entertaining and is an enjoyable way to interact with friends, acquaintances and the community. There are great positives with social media, but what has happened over time is that social media has been hijacked by bullies and organisations with hidden agendas and that want to attack people. A party colleague of mine has been attacked constantly by one person on Facebook over a period of years. She has not been able to do anything to stop these attacks. As others have said here today, they are not the only people affected by this.

People should have the right to freedom of expression but they cannot be allowed to bully, harass and attack people. Facebook must use its moral compass to do something to protect people. Anonymous accounts are unregulated. Facebook and Twitter are huge companies. We have seen what has happened in the US. Surely, they have learned lessons that they can put in place in a country like Ireland, where we have a much stronger democracy and people have the right to be protected.