Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The last word, as would be said in some broadcasting institutions. Before I make my final comments in that regard, I welcome the Munster Young Carer of the Year, Cara Darmody. She is in the Gallery and is one of our extraordinary young citizens. She was named the Young Carer of the Year in the Netwatch Family Carer Awards. I thank her for coming here today with Richie Molloy, all the way from Tipperary. We are really delighted she is here and celebrate her great achievement.

The Chair referred to newspapers not being made available. The Spar shop on Merrion Row informed us just last month that it is no longer carrying newspapers. This is in the heart of Dublin city. It is a real worry for people in our society. As I said, I walked the city of New York and I could not find a Sunday newspaper. The Chair also referred to a statement from the US. Thomas Jefferson said that if we expect people to be uninformed and free, then we expect what never was and never shall be. The witnesses' organisations are an important part of the information flow and of democracy. The challenge is that if we do not have a free press, then people will not be informed. We need this endeavour to be funded because the whole business model has changed. We now have social media undermining, to put it bluntly, democracy itself. In this regard, the Government and the State must support what is essentially one of the pillars of our democratic society. We are coming together here as part of that and voicing this message in one of the Chambers of what is the witnesses' Parliament as well.

I see that Jerry O'Sullivan from Radio Kerry is here, so I will wrap up on a local issue. As Deputy Griffin pointed out earlier, it is great to have Mr. O'Sullivan on the receiving end of questions for a change. Additionally, he and I played Gaelic football together for Kenmare Shamrocks for years, so we were always in communication, although I never received a pass from him in my entire life, and mostly that was because I was well known as someone to never give the ball to. I was a defender, but then he was a much better one. Equally, though, Mr O'Sullivan's brother, Johnny, was a much better footballer than Jerry would ever be. That was mostly because we lost Jerry to journalism, and the world is better for this. I do not think he would ever have kicked a point like Seanie O'Shea did. What Jerry does every morning is important, as people do in all local radio stations, as well as in the local newspapers. They, along with the national broadcasters and newspapers, hold people to account and ask the hard questions because this also informs the public. People can then form their opinions.

What has been pointed out here concerning people on social media having those platforms as their places to gather information is a real worry for our democracy and society. There is a bigger question here, to which Senator Malcolm Byrne refers to often, which is the Wild-West nature of media now. It is dangerous. We have seen its impact in other countries, especially in the US. We have also seen it happen during the Brexit referendum in the UK, where this type of media was used. It is not necessary to have spies in countries any more. Foreign agents do not need to be on the ground. They can be in people's phones in every house in the country. This is a worry, as we saw during Brexit and in the US presidential election in 2016. We must not be complacent in thinking we do not have such a problem here. We do. We must address it and I thank all the witnesses for being here.