Ms Sinéad Gibney:

We go into detail on this in our submission. The most important feature of how the commission is set up is that it is independent and it is able to execute its functions within that independence. As the head of a State agency that enjoys that independence, and IHREC is arguably one of most independent agencies within the State, I can tell the committee that the future media commissioner will thank it for considering this in the drafting of this legislation. The specifics of our recommendation on this are around the budget itself, which should be a separate Vote account, and the removal of the capacity for the Minister or the Department to remove individual commissioners because that is problematic. What is most important is that, as a regulatory body, the commission has the discretion and independence to operate as it needs to. To elaborate on that, the need for that is down to the fact we are engaging rights which are core, fundamental rights, namely, the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and privacy. While interference with those rights is required in this instance, and I think everyone can agree with that, that interference should be allowed to happen with full independence and without any undue influence from Government. That is why we have chosen to emphasise this piece within it. We, as a body enjoying similar regulatory functions, have a lot of sympathy for that.

Maybe I will hand over to Dr. Michael to discuss hate speech. Perhaps afterward I can comment on the private communications issue, although I am going to be limited in what I can say on that.