Catherine Noone (Fine Gael)
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Deputy Funchion articulated this very well and I will not go over ground she covered but do the witnesses accept that people in public life, such as the members here today, are busy people and are inundated with negativity on social media? If we do not get a response to reporting issues on several occasions, why would we bother doing so again? We have more things to do. It should be policed in a better manner. I do not think it is acceptable. We are leaders and it should start from the top down. It is not made acceptable by the fact that politicians are very unfairly and regularly maligned. I appreciate Facebook is grappling with freedom of speech but more has to be done on this issue. We cannot legislate for it because of freedom of speech. It is not reasonable for us to suggest we will protect ourselves in that way. The witnesses have spoken about mental health. What about the mental health of those who work in this space? Do the witnesses have anything to say in that regard?