Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. We must always be open to being able to do more. I agree with the Deputy. The misinformation and disinformation, largely coming from abroad and through social media, can be very damaging and highly persuasive. I imagine, with the advent of AI-enabled communications we might see more and more of it. While the HSE and Department of Health do a lot, we must always be open to doing more not just in terms of traditional information from the CMO, doctors and scientists, but how we counter at quite a sophisticated level some of the disinformation.

Social media platforms worked well with us during Covid. As we know, Ireland did very well in terms of Covid vaccines. That is probably something we can explore further to make sure that everything that can be done is done to identify and stop what we know to be false information which, ultimately, is a danger to public health.

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