Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

While we can all support some of the principal objectives of the Bill as regards compliance around online safety, I cannot support the legislation at this time. It is a legislative pillow designed to suffocate free speech until it stops moving. There is a profound democratic deficit at the heart of this Bill that is deeply alarming. Indeed, I am genuinely concerned that we are embedding a new regulatory regime that will simply replace one series of evils with another. In fact, there is now an overwhelming sense to all but this Government and its cheerleaders in the anti-free speech space that Ireland is adopting borderline authoritarian measures to address what are undoubtedly very real problems.

I will highlight one concern about section 37 and the designation of trusted flagger status. Apparently, trusted flaggers are those organisations or persons who have demonstrated expertise and competence in recognising and reporting harmful content. No one will be surprised that this amounts in practice to organisations that are in perfect lockstep with the Government's preferred narrative on a range of contentious issues being given significant power to close down debate. Of course, the other problem is that much like the absurd and dangerous hate speech Bill, there is no agreed consensus or definition of what constitutes harm, beyond the obvious things, such as child pornography, etc. We are entering dangerous territory and everyone can see it except the Government.

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