Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Quill and Mr. Shanley for their engagement with the committee. I have a question on a specific aspect of the Bill that will be coming before us, namely, the defined categories of harmful content. The items in those categories include criminal materials, cyberbullying, material promoting eating disorders and material promoting self-harm or suicide. Can the scope of the defined categories be extended to include other aspects of what many would consider to be harmful material? There is a major focus at this time on the prevalent issue of consistent messaging that is clearly set out to undermine public health measures. There do not seem to be any checks and balances in that regard. We have to be very careful about this because, as I 100% appreciate, people are completely entitled to have and express concerns about certain public health measures.

For example, a vaccine roll-out is a clear, easy example to talk about now. Where a vaccine roll-out is purported to be and described as anything other than a public health measure, since there are many instances on social media platforms where account-holders with many thousands of followers describe it as something other than a public health measure, can the scope of defined categories of harmful material be extended to include that while also protecting the fundamental right of somebody to disagree or have concerns with certain public health measures? I hope the question is clear. I wonder if there is scope to extend that.