Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious of time and want to move on to the challenges of misinformation, disinformation and other issues. As politicians, we are concerned about elections and we are moving into a big period for elections. There is a famous case about a false tweet during a presidential election debate and the potential impact it had. We are obviously going to be dealing with many of the concerns around artificial intelligence, AI, and its misuse. We have already seen its impact and some media outlets have fallen for it. How would our guests respond to cases of AI-generated content? How will media outlets be able to determine what is a deep fake?

My next question is for the Press Council, whose credibility is important. We have talked already about the rise of the far right and some of the extremes. I note from the Press Council's handbook that one of the clear principles on prejudice for its membership states, "[Newspapers and magazines] shall not publish material intended or likely to cause grave offence or stir up hatred against an individual or group on the basis of their race, religion, nationality, colour, ethnic origin, membership of the Travelling community, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, illness or age." Straight away that prompts the question how Gript Media was permitted into the Press Council, given that principle. In asking that question, I fully anticipate being targeted by Gript Media and some of its followers. However, it is an important question. In an age of disinformation and concern for those quality standards of journalism that we all hold dearly, and which Mr. Dooley represents through his NUJ members, we have to be concerned about news channels. There are others. It is important that those standards are maintained.