Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is all very well to talk about front-line defenders and to pose as the champion of journalistic free speech when one does things like that. We should have a debate in the House on freedom of speech. I do not believe in the current view that somehow social media are an opportunity to be utterly disinhibited and to say anything one likes about anybody regardless of the consequences. We must allow diversity and even mildly offensive material to be in our media and we should not automatically use some kind of catechism of political correctness to determine who can and cannot be broadcasters or guests on radio stations, which we license, and which are required to be objective and fair in discussions.