Ms Karyn Harty:

I thank the Cathaoirleach very much for those questions and I will deal with the last one first. There is a Civil Liability Act issue which comes up a great deal and was brought into particular focus, oddly enough, by a defamation case against RTÉ a few years ago to do with suing all of the necessary tort-feasors. That can be quite complicated in a defamation action and it can result in people being brought in who you might think, maybe disproportionately, ought not be. That is a complication. I am not sure there is an easy solution for it here today, but the Cathaoirleach is completely right to raise it as an issue. The reality in law is that each of those republications, emojis and reactions constitutes a further publication. That is the reality of it, as the Cathaoirleach knows. It is a complicated issue.

On the point, which we make in our submission, as to whether reform is overdue, that is a reflection, I suppose, of how fast-moving this all is. When you think of how we got to the 2009 Act, it was a very long process which I believe involved a 2004 report done by Hugh Mohan, as I recall. That took a long time but that legislation does not deal with the technology world at all because the smartphone really only took off in or around 2010. If we consider the change that has happened in that period, our reflection that it is long overdue is reflective of that and of how things have changed. It is a very important area which ought to be revisited if it is not working in practice, and we have given a number of illustrations in our submissions as to how, practically, there are issues with the law and how it is operating. We believe reform is needed.