Ms Noelle O'Connell:

I thank the Chair and distinguished members of the committee for the opportunity to address the committee here today. Is mór againn a bheith leo. Táimid an-bhuíoch as an gcuireadh teacht chun caint leis an gcoiste inniu ar ábhair fhíorthábhachtacha dúinne i nGluaiseacht na hEorpa in Éirinn agus do na baill, mar choiste, gan amhras. As members of the committee will no doubt know, European Movement Ireland, EMI, is the longest-established not-for-profit voluntary membership organisation working on European affairs in Ireland. Since 1954, our mission has been to develop that connection between Ireland and Europe and achieve greater public understanding of, and engagement with, the European Union and our European partners. This year marks a very special 70th anniversary for us. I am delighted to be joined by my colleagues: our new deputy CEO and head of policy and research, Lorna Hayes; and Rory Harte, our head of strategy, who is the project lead on our disinformation and misinformation project. It is a privilege to be here to discuss some of our ongoing disinformation research work and the project and campaigning work we will do in advance of the European elections in June. I commend the Cathaoirleach and the distinguished members of his committee for their foresight in undertaking proactive engagement on such an important topic.

As we approach this year's European Parliament elections, it is of vital importance that all stakeholders are aware of the discourse around EU and European issues. We in European Movement Ireland are particularly cognisant of public sentiment regarding the EU. The committee will, of course, be familiar with our long-standing attitudinal polling, which provides us with a nuanced perspective on how people view our relationship with the EU and Ireland's broader European relationship. We look forward to presenting the findings of our poll, which will be taking place over the coming months, but we note that, in our research carried out for last year's poll, 88% of respondents agreed that Ireland should remain in the EU, although only 58% felt that the EU was going in the right direction.

Support for the EU can be mercurial and we note the coarsening of language used around the EU and issues related to Europe since our most recent polling in our disinformation research project. Although we are not in a position to pre-empt the results of our this year's all-island poll, which we are in the throes of preparing, we are conscious that this shift in discourse is likely to have an impact on the findings for 2024.

We in EMI are mindful of our role as an important source of information regarding the elections to the European Parliament. This year, our work will primarily focus on three separate cohorts. For young people and students, we will be carrying out information and voter registration sessions in third level institutions in each of the European Parliament constituencies. As an apolitical and non-partisan organisation, our work will be focused on providing factual information about voting, candidates and the role of the Parliament and helping the public to answer any questions they may have. For the general audience and wider public, we will be carrying out public town hall meetings in Cork, Dublin and Galway to provide a forum for the public to discuss issues with experts and members of the media and academia. Finally, we are very aware of the important role that civil society plays in the democratic process. For the upcoming elections - 2024 has been referred to as a democracy Super Bowl - we are providing a co-ordination platform in order that civil society organisations can plan their activities and schedules and help to mitigate the risk of overlap in a way that supports a broader sectoral approach to ensure we reach as wide a base of the public as possible. It is important to stress that we are mindful, as Dr. Culloty stated, of the excellent work of the Electoral Commission. I am sure it will be incredibly busy in the run-up to the European Parliament elections. We are conscious that we wish to support and complement its work alongside our own.

I will now hand over to my colleague, Mr. Harte, who will talk the committee through our disinformation project, particularly as it pertains to our upcoming European Parliament election programme of work.