Ms Una Fitzpatrick:

I thank the Deputy for the questions. Our members would absolutely support the inclusion of a start date for the media commissioner. When this was initially proposed, Ireland was seen as being at the vanguard and taking a leadership role. The membership and the companies based here were really supportive and grateful for that proposal.

On who should be liable, as in my earlier response, it is about a process. It is about highlighting that in some cases, it is the providers of the content and not the carriers of the content. For ongoing, systemic issues, however, if there is no engagement or resolution of an issue, of course there may be liability issues.

I really think there has to be a process to get to that point. If it is a once-off incident and there have not been any prior issues then perhaps that would be seen as being unduly harsh. Obviously, if this was an issue that had been arising repeatedly over a period and there had been efforts to engage with a company which was not engaging, then in those circumstances, the process would kick in. It is really just to clarify that a process needs to be put in place around that sanction.