Results 621-640 of 1,000 for speaker:John McGahon

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Online Disinformation and Media Literacy: Ms Frances Haugen (23 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: -----the European Parliament and the House of Commons select committee as well. I would describe her as having real moral fortitude in coming out of the shadows by herself and taking on a colossal company like Facebook right around the world and speaking to parliamentarians. It takes immense personal character to have the ability to do that and it is to be commended. It is very difficult...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Online Disinformation and Media Literacy: Ms Frances Haugen (23 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: It was mentioned earlier that we are very much living in a digital world and that technology operates at the speed of light. Does Ms Haugen have any confidence in governments and democracies around the world being able to keep up with big tech, which can outgun governments at times, particularly when one considers what it has at its disposal? Does she think there is any possibility of our...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Online Disinformation and Media Literacy: Ms Frances Haugen (23 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: We get it that hateful and divisive content drives engagement and it elicits responses. We get that Facebook's economic business model is built around that. It has been discussed earlier today, but how can we ask a private company to change a business model which will result in it losing money, for example? We have talked a little bit about that today. Would one of the things we could ask...

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Online Disinformation and Media Literacy: Ms Frances Haugen (23 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: Of course.

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Online Disinformation and Media Literacy: Ms Frances Haugen (23 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: I will ask two further questions briefly. Does Ms Haugen believe that the algorithms governing the rabbit hole – the content someone looks for then taking him or her to more divisive and extremist content – still exist in Facebook or has it tried to move away from them a little since the lid was blown on this?

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media: Online Disinformation and Media Literacy: Ms Frances Haugen (23 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: I have two final questions, which I will ask at the same time. Does Ms Haugen believe that Facebook has become too big to handle? Over the past 100 years in the US, anti-trust laws were used to break up big companies that had monopolies. Should something like those be used on Facebook? Ms Haugen fielded a similar question when appearing before the US Congress when a Senator asked her...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: Last week, the EU proposed and approved new targets for renewable energy. We want to hit 40% in the EU by 2030. That is very ambitious. Two elements stand out to me where Ireland is concerned. First, the EU wants to increase the number of cross-border energy connections. Second, it wants to accelerate the approval process for renewable energy projects like wind farms. This will be...

Seanad: Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022: Second Stage (22 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: I offer my apologies on behalf of Senator Carrigy. Over the past year and a half, he has worked hard on the committee with colleagues. Unfortunately, he cannot make it today. I am happy to fill in for him because this is an issue in which I have taken a personal interest for the past 18 months in terms of big tech and the algorithms that are being used. I watched Ms Frances Haugen's...

Seanad: Electricity Costs (Domestic Electricity Accounts) Emergency Measures Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (22 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: Tomorrow at 10.30 a.m.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (22 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: It is great to have the witnesses here and I thank them for their attendance. The concept of environmental crime has not been treated very seriously in this country in recent years and that is why it is so important that directives like this are. This leads into my first question. Does the Department believe, in the context of other European countries, their standard of environmental law...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (22 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: Enforcement could be made more difficult in some areas because responsibility rests with so many different Departments. Perhaps it would be useful to have a lead organisation or Department with overall responsibility.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Representatives from the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (17 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: I apologise that I am the sole Fine Gael representative here. My colleague, Senator Currie, is in Fermanagh, and Deputies O'Dowd and Carroll MacNeill have sent their apologies. I have a meeting in Leinster House at 3 p.m. so I have to leave at 2.55 p.m.. As a result, I will not be present for the second round of Fine Gael questions. I have four or five questions. Do I have 15 minutes, Chair?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Representatives from the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (17 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: With that in mind, I will ask one question instead of a couple at once. Once it is answered, I will move on. Ms McNamee stated that Northern Ireland and the Border counties remain more divided along communal lines. Coming from a Border area, I could not agree more. Why does she believe Northern Ireland is perhaps more divided today than it was 20 years ago? What are her views on that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Representatives from the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (17 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: That is excellent and it really does. I get what Ms McGlone is saying in that it is easier for opposing views to be shared and discussed rather than bottled up and kept in their own communities. That makes absolute sense to me. Ms McGlone said that what is missing in Northern Ireland at the moment is a shared understanding and context of what caused the conflict. Does Ms McGlone believe...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Representatives from the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (17 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: Naturally enough there has been huge upheaval in Northern Ireland over the past years with Brexit, the protocol and so on. How has the Glencree centre been able to manage that upheaval? What has the centre had to implement to try to be more flexible and manoeuvre in an ever-shifting landscape since 2016?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Representatives from the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (17 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: On the funding of Glencree, reference was made to fact the PEACE IV funding is due to come to a close in August of this year. What alternative funding streams are lined up?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Representatives from the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (17 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: Ms McNamee stated her organisation carries out very specialised work and that such work has to be done by well-trained professionals. I do not know whether I should call them employees or volunteers, but how many people work in the centre and what type of training do they need to deal with the important issues it is working on?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Representatives from the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (17 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: I thank both our guests for their presentations. They are both very impressive people and I can see how on top of their brief they are, given the excellent work they do. I apologise that I will not be present for the second round of questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Engagement with Representatives from the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (17 Feb 2022)

John McGahon: That is a fair point. I should have added that the issue is equally prevalent on the unionist side. I accept the point.