Ms Noelle O'Connell:

The Deputy hit on the kernel of a huge number of the challenges we all face in getting the balance and hitting the sweet spot between communicating in an informed and factual way and encouraging people to inform and participate in democratic processes with the necessary knowledge and toolkits. Of course, so much now is on social media. For an organisation like ours, which prides itself on its communication engagements, it is important to engage with people and our audiences in the platforms they use. Young people in particular are on TikTok, which is an important platform in that regard. We are doing a huge amount of work online but are ensuring that it is factual, verified and fact-based, which is a big part of the work in the disinformation project we are doing.

Deputy Ó Murchú asked what we are trying to achieve with this research project. It is important to put it at the heart of decision-makers and parliamentarians. We are taking great care, prudence and caution. We would be delighted to come back to the committee again to talk about the findings as we evolve in the development of the project.

Social media has an important role to play in how people access information on the EU. The reverse side is that there are strong elements of misinformation and disinformation risk in that area. If we are alert and mindful of it and work with trusted, verifiable sources and actors in a responsible manner, that is a strong approach.

We also saw in the findings about European issues that there is obviously a role for social media but if you look at the findings on Ireland, the "I do not usually look for information on the EU" option was at 14%. That is something that we in European Movement Ireland of course want to work on. NGOs have a role to play as well. As the Deputy said, there were very high responses on traditional media.

There is important work to be done as we face into the European Parliament elections in 2024. We are mindful of that and we want to see an increase in voter turnout and participation. The last time, around Ireland, the voter turnout percentage was not where we would like to see it, as an organisation that wants people to participate in the democratic process. The European Parliament elections are an important part of that. I thank the Deputy. We are never going to get everything right in communications and engagement but that reinforces the importance of constantly doing it and not taking our foot off the pedal.