Mr. Jerry O'Sullivan:

On Senator Malcolm Byrne's point about politics, Radio Kerry did several pieces around the last local elections and the lack of candidates putting themselves forward and the difficulties many of the parties had finding candidates. One reason was the abuse on social media and the image. Part of being a journalist with a well-resourced newsroom is having the time to develop stories. We have made the point several times that you get criticism for that because in certain corners of social media, all journalists are seen as biased and all politicians are seen as corrupt - Ireland is a kip, a banana republic. Part of the job is having the time to work through stories and to tell stories in an unbiased way and to respond to that thinking. We ask tough questions and point out when things are wrong but getting away from clickbait and taking the road of saying that actually, no, hold on, Ireland is not a kip, it is not a banana republic, there are good things happening and it is very important we have good quality, talented people getting into politics. That work is being done and we are pointing out that if we do not have enough politicians coming forward we could be in trouble.