Dr. Roderick Flynn:

It is such a huge Bill, I am not even sure I would know where to begin. One thing does stand out to me. Part of what that Bill is supposed to do is to transpose the 2018 update of the audiovisual and media services directive. That actually has some comments about media concentration and ownership. There is no reference to ownership in the online safety Bill. It is literally absent, and it struck me as a notable absence at the time. That is probably the most obvious one.

In terms of powers, it depends on how well resourced that institution is going to be. Even when the BAI transitioned from being the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, it took on much greater responsibility. This was about 15 years ago at this stage. Suddenly, RTÉ came within its purview as well as the independent broadcasters. I did not see huge evidence at that stage that the resourcing, in terms of staff numbers at least, went up in a way I would have thought was concomitant with the new responsibilities that were placed within it. To a certain extent it is a person power kind of question. However, that remains to be seen. It is a human resources question.