Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept the fact that social media in general are a force for good. However, my issue is with broadcasting first party comments by third parties through tweets, text messages and so on, especially for persons operating in a political context.

I note from one of the Minister's previous contributions that a comment was attributed to him by a national broadcaster and he was not even in the studio at the time. In a recent election an unsolicited tweet had a major impact on the result. I accept what the Minister said about the compliance element and the BAI's role in this issue, but given the fact that we are in a changing environment in which the broadcast media are behind the curve in the advancement of technology, this matter must be examined. There is a built-in unfairness. If an anonymous person using a platform is broadcast by a national, local or regional broadcaster without any attention being paid to the fact that it could be a hoax tweet, text message or email, the damage can be substantial.

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