Ms Noelle O'Connell:

I fully take on board the Deputy's point on the challenges facing the EU and the subscribing to values, but we need to consider that no member state should be able to hold things up, as we have seen recently. There is a need to look at qualified majority voting, QMV, in this regard. At the Conference on the Future of Europe, I sought to get consensus and compromise, which the Deputy knows better than anyone.

One thing which might be of interest to the committee is that in last year's poll, on an all-island basis, we asked people where they get their information on EU issues from. Some 61% in Ireland and 62% in Northern Ireland got it from traditional media, so the percentages are remarkably similar for traditional media. Going to the Deputy's and Dr. Culloty's point about fact-checking and how we do that, no one body, institution or organisation has a monopoly on that. There is a role for the Electoral Commission, organisations like ours, the Commission and the parliament. We have to go with trusted sources of information. As regards social media, the figure is 20% in Northern Ireland and 13% in the Republic. Some 14% in Ireland and 6% in the North get their information on EU issues from NGOs. it totally opens up with the age breakdown , with 43% of the younger demographic, the 18-to-24-year-olds, in Northern Ireland getting their information from social media and 40% in Ireland, so 18-to-24-year-olds, young people, on the island of Ireland get their information on European issues from social media. It is something we just have to be aware of. To Mr. Harte's point, we have to engage with people where they are and where they are sourcing their information from. That is why engaging with social media will be hugely important as part of these European Parliament elections.