Ms Jessica N? Mhain?n:

I will very briefly come in on the point about Reporters Without Borders, RSF. I completely agree. In addition to what has been said, I will add that Ireland's rating is a reflection of the worsening situation of media freedom worldwide. This is important to say. Media freedom is, unfortunately, in decline.

On strategic lawsuits against public participation, SLAPPs, specifically, and as a representative of the Ireland Anti-SLAPPs Network, it is very difficult for us to compile cases of SLAPPs. Drawing on our experience from working across the European Union on this issue, it has been particularly difficult in Ireland. I will give one example. In March my organisation, Index on Censorship, hosted an anti-SLAPP conference at Trinity College Dublin where many of those affected by SLAPPs went out of their way and were brave enough to speak about their experience. As an organisation, it is our practice to always publish online conferences, including SLAPP conferences, afterwards, so they are out there. We believe it is very much in the public interest to have them broadcast. Unfortunately, after the conference, the legal team at Trinity College Dublin believed that due to legal concerns, they could not publish that conference. Again, this puts Ireland into an outlier position. There have been many SLAPP conferences held in other European countries, including the UK, and they have all been published online without any issues. This compounds the sense of isolation that the SLAPP victims feel. It prevents us from being able to record these and to put them on the record. In a media freedom context it is very difficult to point to cases if we do not know they are happening. Journalists are also afraid to speak out about them due to potential additional legal concerns and also on the back of a reluctance from management in their own organisations. Those are important points to raise as well.