Mr. Ronan Lupton:

I thank the committee for the invitation to address it today and to give some evidence in relation to an area where I have acted and worked for approximately 23 years. My background is set out in full in my written submission of 19 March 2021. The evidence I am giving today is simply as an independent legal practitioner, not on behalf of the Law Library or Alternative Operators in the Communications Market, ALTO, which is a telecoms group that I chair. I was privileged to have been appointed to the internet advisory board, the Internet Safety Advisory Council, ISAC, which now operates as the National Advisory Council for Online Safety, NACOS. Many members of the committee will be aware of the child safety and online advisory role that NACOS undertakes under the auspices of the office for Internet safety, which had resided previously within the Department of Justice but is now part of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.

Members will have seen my written submission of 19 March 2021, which I was invited to put in. I took a very legalistic approach in relation to my submission, as members will have seen, suggesting that we should get on with the business of the audiovisual media services directive, AVMSD, and perhaps forget or park aspects of the online safety and media regulation, OSMR, national legislation until such time as the European law in respect of the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act is concluded. I have moved away from that, having followed the business of the committee in the last number of weeks. I have been paying attention to the submissions being made by various parties. I understand the position that the committee is now in and fully appreciate that.

In my opening statement, which is a separate document, I have set out five key points on which I want to give evidence today. Hopefully, I can get through them in the next two minutes. The first is the issue of the forthcoming European law and making sure that the committee, which I know it is, is fully mindful of the flight path and dual track that is happening in respect of amendments to the area of online safety and the general e-commerce amendments which are planned centrally in Europe. That legislation is coming at us like a train. In terms of the OSMR and the pre-legislative scrutiny, we must bear in mind that some unpicking may have to happen if we go ahead and legislate for many of the developments within the heads at this stage. There are some examples but I do not intend to go into them at this particular time. The second point is that I welcome the establishment of a new media commission. It is quite clear that it needs to happen. We do not need to spend more time on that.

The issue of online safety is a massive one for everybody on the committee and every individual living in Ireland but it is something that has effectively been subject to self-regulation for quite a number of years. That is no longer adequate, given the nature of the environment we operate in, the pervasive nature of the Internet and our duty and responsibility as legislators, lawyers and so on. From that point of view, I have to also welcome - and I do so quite clearly - the initiatives and the basis of the legislation, as drafted. I wish to highlight a point which I know Senator Malcolm Byrne and others on the committee have raised before, namely, the issue of civil versus criminal law regulation on how that interworks and operates. It is obviously a very serious point. Members will see, in my opening statement, that I make the delineation between a civil matter as something that you report to the Garda versus what we can do in terms of regulation and making sure that complaints are properly handled and dealt with.

Finally, the committee administrators asked me to deal with the issue of levies. I have done that by comparison to the ComReg telecoms levy. It may not be that the ComReg telecoms levy is an appropriate model, but I have set it out so members can at least deliberate on it. I have concluded, in my opening statement, that it is really a matter for the new media commission to consult upon how levies will operate in the future.

That is the sensible approach to take at this point. Those are the five areas I have prepared. The committee will have seen in my opening statement that I have carefully considered the evidence of Dr. T.J. McIntyre of Digital Rights Ireland and Professor Conor O’Mahony to the committee along with their written submissions. I would associate myself with everything they have submitted and filed in written form. That is it for me. I will happily address any questions, queries or comments the committee has afterwards.