Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. O'Leary for his presentation and his commitment to the difficult job ahead of him. Much has been said. With regard to the role of an coimisiún in informing the public, we can probably accept that even if we were to see the end of X, which would be lovely, something else that is probably much worse would replace it. We will not be able to stop people trying to disrupt the electoral process or undermine democracy. That is a challenge we have to work with. Much of the work of an coimisiún should relate to informing the public. I refer to the messaging to treat every day as if it is April Fool's Day. That is a short and snappy message with good marketing and branding and whatever you want to call it. That kind of messaging gets people to think critically and analyse everything they see. The commission should also promote going to trusted news sources. That is a somewhat subjective term. What is trusted? Every news source will make mistakes from time to time. What resources does an coimisiún have to do the element of its work that involves informing the public on how to assess information and trying to deal with disinformation or misinformation?

What kind of resources does it have? Does the commission feel that it is properly equipped, supported and resourced to do what it has been tasked with doing? What type of resources are available to it to carry out this work? Does the commission feel empowered to do what is expected of it? We do not just want window dressing. We want the commission to be effective and have teeth. It would be interesting to hear Mr. O'Leary's thoughts on that.