Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)

I fully concur that the responsibility lies with men to address this pervasive issue. However, that does not absolve the State of its responsibility, and the State is in neglect of its responsibilities across a variety of fields when it comes to men's violence against women, be that the provision of refuge centres, the collation of data or the regulation of social media platforms. I absolutely agree that technology has changed since I was younger. I can only imagine the terror of parents of young girls in this country at the moment, when we have social media influencers bombarding them with hate-filled messaging that target their body size and seek to direct how they should approach the world.

That is why we require regulation. Europe absolutely has a role in this but the tech companies are based here. If we enforce their own GDPR standards, on which their algorithms rely, that would cut the problem off at source right now. There is no need for the State to absolve itself of responsibility for the insidious violence that is being inflicted upon women and young girls in this country and throughout Europe. We can lead on this by applying GDPR standards to the tech companies that are based here.

See this speech in context