Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That reflects our experience in talking to people. The social media companies are not taking this issue, or the issue of online abuse in general, sufficiently seriously. That brings me to the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022, which is before us in the Seanad. We have concerns that the Department is not taking this issue sufficiently seriously. Mr. Ó Lionáin is hearing the concerns here on the sport side. He needs to talk to his colleagues on the media side. Only one amendment, a very minor technical one, has been accepted so far by the Department. If we are to be serious about addressing the question of online abuse, in sport as well as other areas, we need a strong and well-resourced regulator with the effective powers to be able to tackle this problem. It is important that the Department reflect the concerns expressed by the Federation of Irish Sport, the NGBs, the individual players at amateur and professional level and colleagues around this table. Frankly, we do not believe those concerns are being heard by the Department.