Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will briefly bring the discussion back to our EU affairs committee. As practising politicians, we have found the discussion thus far interesting.

Many witnesses in this committee spoke about foreign interference and malign actors, especially in respect of Russia. I am thinking of representatives from the western Balkans, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and so forth. It is a really big issue and it relates to the question of disinformation. Did Mr. O'Leary say earlier in his presentation that there is no evidence of foreign interference in Irish elections, but that it is something we need to be wary of and it is certainly a possibility in the future? That is one question.

We got a letter last November from the chairperson, Ms Justice Marie Baker, about the research programme. Does Mr. O'Leary want to say something about it? I am sure he is quite busy with elections this year and next year. Will the research programme include the issue of disinformation?