Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The witnesses are very welcome. I am sorry I missed their presentations but I read them very carefully. I have a lot of questions because this is a really important issue for freedom of speech and censorship going forward. I am aware Coimisiún na Meán has only recently been granted some powers with regard to illegal and harmful content.

Has the commission received any complaints to date? If yes, I do not wish Mr. Godfrey to be specific about an individual case. He might give us an example of those cases. I have some concerns regarding the allocation of trusted flagger status. This will require reporting on illegal content, which may include child sexual abuse material. To date, there may have been some robust procedures that apply to anyone who is seeking and working on this material. For example, an organisation such as hotline.ierequires permission from the Minister for Justice to do its work. Will similar forms of regulation apply? Is there potential for some organisation to engage in a lack of compliance upon receiving trusted flagger status?

A lot of NGOs will become trusted flaggers, many of whom are heavily reliant on State funding. The Journal gets approximately €350,000 from an EU fund on foot of its trusted flagger status. To what extent will Coimisiún na Meán be independent of the Government? One of the advisers to the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, has just been appointed to the commission with a hefty salary of more than €120,000. Will that have any impact on the independence of the commission?

Can we have examples of misinformation and disinformation? While I am aware the commission does not have the power to remove misinformation or disinformation, will it be involved in media literacy programmes and calling out harmful or incorrect information?

What mechanism will exist to report issues with the commission and to whom will it be accountable? Will it be straightforward to avail of the accountability mechanism? The remit of Coimisiún na Meán is the DSA. How does it expect the hate speech Bill impact its work should it become law?

In February it was reported by TheEuropean Conservativethat Síona Cahill is working for the agency. In 2021-----