Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. It is pretty unusual to be considering enforcement divorced from the obligations that create the framework.

I can understand how that is posing difficulties to members but, on the other hand, I regard the regulation here as of enormous importance. These are algorithms which are being used to manipulate us, with the advertising techniques, the manipulation and transparency across the range.

My first question is that with some of these things, such as reporting a criminal offence, one would have thought that the Garda would be the competent authority there. On complaints handling, one would have thought that the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, would have been involved there. On audit compliance in financial areas, one would have thought that it would be the regulator of audits, and so on. Why was it deemed necessary to have one designated regulator from within the family of regulators of these platforms in the first place?

I can understand where Ms Greene says that the Media Commission, where it looks into the entrails of these platforms, is more suited than one might say the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission might be, but what will the relationship be with those other oversight bodies, if it needs to deploy outside itself, because of an inadequate complaints procedure, for example, where all of the expertise for that is, presumably, in the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission? Is there a way to ensure that this new single regulator which we are designating here has that capability and reach? I can understand that if we picked any one of these oversight bodies, we would be saying the very same thing. For example, we would be asking how would the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission deal with online safety or algorithms, which it might not have the competence to deal with. Perhaps Ms Greene might address some of these points, please.