John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State. Our political grouping at EU level, Renew Europe, has some positive ideas. It proposed reinforced provisions to promote democratic resilience, including something that is close to the heart of this Government, which is funding support for independent media, investigative journalism and fact checking. I understand the Estonians are way ahead of the rest of Europe in dealing with disinformation. We need to pile some significant money into that.

Much of this overlaps with the portfolio of our European Commissioner, Michael McGrath. It is also being proposed by our group that the MFF must position the EU as the world's leading provider of development and climate aid. The Minister of State mentioned that. Is this something he will support? Might it be a factor in our Presidency next year?

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