Mr. Jerry O'Sullivan:

I will pick up on an earlier point about people who turn off the news and do not want to listen to it anymore. They feel it is too depressing. Deputy Flaherty said that his three children never want to pay for a subscription. There is a certain element of responsibility on journalists for that, in the way we present the news. However, there is a responsibility on all of us, including politicians and the education system. One of the big problems we have with young people is the lack of engagement. There is a lack of civics education in our schools and a lack of training of people to be good citizens. This comes into the idea of wanting to be a politician and wanting to be involved.

A couple of months ago, we did an interview with an EU expert on radicalisation. One of his big points with regard to people who get involved in radicalism was that the online problem is there. They find solace from people who present an easy answer. They are not involved in their local communities. They do not attend local meetings or get involved in politics. They have become convinced that the only way to bring about change is to engage in violence. The reason is that they are not being educated in the importance of being involved, of knowing who is in your local community, and of understanding that things can be changed through democratic processes. This goes back to the importance of journalism in the grassroots democracy argument. We have a role but politicians have a role too. Education has a key role in trying to convince people it is a bad idea to turn off the news, as depressing as it may be. It means you are less involved, you care less about your neighbours and about what is happening, and you are quicker to get frustrated and angry because you do not understand why things have changed in the way they have, why there are so many foreigners down the road in a hotel, why all of that has been done, and why it is a good idea to help people from other countries instead of being guided by the knee-jerk online reaction. There are good points but there is a responsibility on all sectors of society to try to work on that.