Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 to 16, inclusive, together.

I spoke by telephone with the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, on 27 March. The Prime Minister contacted me to discuss what actions might be taken to counter the proliferation of violent and extremist online content following the horrific terror attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand on 15 March. I took the opportunity to pass on to the Prime Minister and the people of New Zealand the condolences of the Irish Government, this House and our people on the tragic loss of 50 innocent lives and the injuries to so many others.

The Prime Minister and I discussed initiatives being put in place here in Ireland and across the EU to tackle violent and illegal online content. It is the view of the Government that we can no longer rely on self-regulation alone by digital platform providers to ensure that users are kept safe online. The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, recently concluded a public consultation on the online safety Bill which will establish a national regulatory authority to oversee the course of actions that online platforms have in place to protect their users. It will implement provisions of the revised EU audio-visual media services directive requiring video sharing platforms to protect users from content containing hate speech and other illegal content. The Bill also draws on work done by the Law Reform Commission on the establishment of an online digital safety commission, which, in turn, is inspired by existing legislation in New Zealand.

Ireland is also involved in detailed discussions at EU level on the proposed new EU regulation on preventing the dissemination of terrorism content online. This proposal obliges service providers to remove offending content within a short timeframe and provides for fines of up to 4% of annual global turnover in the event of systematic failure to remove content. This proposal is still under discussion and is unlikely to be concluded before the European elections. However, once enacted, Ireland will establish a competent authority to ensure that companies comply with this regulation.

I agreed with Prime Minister Ardern that our officials would compare approaches to these challenges and that we will stay in touch on the matter. We considered the possibility of a high-level meeting involving her and other EU Prime Ministers in Europe in the foreseeable future.

See this speech in context