Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak to this legislation and the Social Democrats are happy to support it. The Bill gives me an opportunity to return to the Digital Services Act, which we debated late last year. At that time, it was stated that Coimisiún na Meán was funded to the tune of €6 million for 2024 despite a business case that had been developed by the commission for additional resourcing. I understood at the time the Department made an allocation of €2.7 million to the commission in respect of its functions relating directly to the Digital Services Act and its role as the digital services co-ordinator. Now that the commission has moved from being a relatively new body to being the digital services co-ordinator, has it received any further financial support ahead of legislating for its ability to raise revenue via a levy? The funding of €2.7 million that I mentioned was to provide for an additional commissioner and more staff for Coimisiún na Meán. Will the Minister of State update us in that regard? What is the headcount and the skill set as of today? Once this legislation is passed, is Coimisiún na Meán ready to start the collection of the proposed levy? It would be very useful to hear that because we are often quite critical of new entities when they are set up but they must have the resources to do the job. What is the projection in terms of the commission's ability to do some of this work as it relates to the number of staff it has?

What are the details regarding the levy? Is there any lead-in time for the liable bodies and how much is likely to be realised by the introduction of a levy? I read through the general scheme of the Bill and there is no real indication of that in it so it would be useful to get an update. Under the general scheme, where levies are imposed on providers, there could be provision for exemptions, deferrals and even refunds. The levy is designed to meet running costs of the coimisiún and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. It is the kind of information that would be quite useful. I missed part of the Minister of State's opening statement so it may have been included in that. Could he outline what is provided for? Looking ahead, I look forward to Coimisiún na Meán appearing before the Committee of Public Accounts at some point for a review of its audit accounts where, hopefully, we will see the finer detail in a very practical way

Has there been resistance to the introduction of the levy from industry? I know there has been but I mean in a real sense. How comparable is it to the way in which other member states are managing their functions relating to the Digital Services Act? I realise that a large number of such companies are located here so we are probably the country that will be looked to. We are the country where it is most likely to see resistance but we have a particular responsibility, given the location of so many of these companies.

It is worth noting that in today’s edition of The Irish Times, it was reported that a complaint about political ads on TikTok alleged that the company breached specific articles of the EU's Digital Services Act. If that is upheld, then the company could be hit with substantial fines. TikTok is already citing various inaccuracies in the complaint. I mention that because that some of these companies are very well resourced and could potentially bog down the work of the commission. Obviously, the Minister of State is not going to go into the detail about that but it is something we could be concerned about. I know there is the potential to fine some of these companies somewhere in the region of 6% of their annual turnover so that would be a sizeable deterrent. Consequences do change behaviour and we do need to change behaviour in the case of some of these companies.

We see the damage caused by online bullying. Something like 6.7% of the population are on Twitter. If you go by that, you would not have knocked on doors during the recent elections. The experience knocking on doors is very good. We are all able to say that. People were able to express concerns about things about which they are unhappy in a very dignified, rational and nice way. This is in total contrast to the kind of bile that often presents on Twitter. The idea that some of this is not taken down is offensive. We need to deal with that. I cannot think of the number of times people have asked me whether I was okay going around knocking on doors. I am sure everybody else experienced that but the public has a perception that this is reality. We have had the unique experience of knocking on a lot of doors and seeing that people are nice. They were always nice and will continue to be nice. If they have a problem, they will tell you what the problem is but it is certainly not articulated in the way we see online. We should not accept that as the kind of narrative that is acceptable.

I reiterate the point made about the horrible responses to Rhasidat Adeleke after her wonderful display at the European Athletics Championships and how proud of her we all are.

The idea that someone who has put such an effort into representing this country could be treated in that kind of way and for that then not be automatically seen as unacceptable is the kind of thing we have to shift. This is not us and should not represent us. Very often, people think that little bubble is Ireland and it is not.

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