Dr. Karen McAuley:

I thank the Deputy for her question. We share Professor O'Mahony's concerns in that regard. Our submission to the committee made reference to the proposed systemic complaints scheme which obviously cannot be viewed in isolation. It needs to be looked at with the other tools that are proposed for the commissioner. We are not suggesting that having a systemic complaints scheme is inherently flawed. However, while the proposed commission is being tasked with it, the general scheme and indeed the regulatory impact analysis provide very little detail about it. Therefore, it is not clear whether it could work as an effective alternative.

Regarding individual complaints handling, as we noted in our submission to the committee we feel it is very important that online service providers are tasked and equipped with the knowledge and competences to be able to deal effectively, appropriately and efficiently with complaints that come to them. Ultimately, if service providers are adept at good complaints handling practice and are able to resolve the concerns that complaints may come to their attention, that serves service users, including children, well because it supports a swift resolution of the issue. As I said earlier, it is still important to allow for that not being the case at all times. People need a further avenue. That is where the question of prospective individual complaints handling by the online safety commission itself needs to be considered. It is not a question of suggesting that the online safety commissioner should be the first port of call but rather that it should be an avenue that is available. In other words, we should have an independent non-judicial mechanism.

We are very aware of the Department's concerns about the capacity of the commission to deal with the potential quantity of complaints that may come to it if an individual complaints-handling mechanism is put in place. We are not sure about the extent to which the Department may have considered introducing a third strand. It is not a question of having one or the other. Rather than a systemic scheme or an individual complaints handling scheme, is there a way in which we can introduce an individual complaints-handling component which would complement the roles performed, for example, by a systemic complaint scheme by the auditing measures that are there and which would be set up in such a way that would mitigate the risk of the commission being overwhelmed by the volume of complaints?