Mr. Art O'Leary:

The Deputy referred to the kinds of actors that might be involved in this space. Obviously, misinformation and disinformation can be domestic or foreign and from state or non-state actors. We need to be cautious and expect that the interference can come from anywhere. In the white-hot heat of a general election campaign, where hours and minutes matter, we do not want to spend too much time wondering about from where certain information came. The job is to deal with the problem. It may be for others, possibly the Garda or other organisations, to deal with from where the problem came and who was behind it.

We have spoken with the tech companies about the issue of algorithms. Interestingly, if an issue is unclear and being investigated for misinformation and disinformation, they can reset the algorithms to ensure the post does not appear on people's timelines, or it appears so far down as to be unreadable and so on. There are many ways of dealing with this issue prior to a determination being made.

The Deputy's final question related to the tension or balance between the right to freedom of expression and people's right to get proper black-and-white information that is correct. This is difficult for us. Every candidate in a general election is trying to manipulate public opinion in order to persuade people to vote for him or her. When I mention this in a political environment, every politician tells me it is not them we are talking about; we are talking about the bad guys. The challenge is to establish who are the malign actors in this space. We do not wish to have a chilling impact on public commentary. In a normal election campaign, things are said and people take a view on information which is presented in a way that best suits the speaker's argument.