Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I echo the remarks of my colleague, Senator O'Loughlin, concerning the courage and dignity of Geraldine Mullan in the interview on "Prime Time" last night. I commend "Prime Time" and Miriam O'Callaghan for the sensitivity with which they handled it. It shows we all have challenges in life but that interview really put things in perspective.

I wish to briefly raise two issues. Yesterday the Data Protection Commissioner announced that Twitter would be fined €450,000 for a data breach. It is the first time a tech giant has been fined by the Data Protection Commissioner. Twitter was not only fined for its breach but for its failure to notify the Data Protection Commissioner of the breach and the failure to properly document what happened. Many European data regulators believe this fine was very much on the low side and I would share that concern. Until data privacy is taken seriously and some of the social media giants are tackled in a stronger way, they will continue to behave in this way. I have called for a debate on this issue previously but in terms of our relationships with tech giants we need a fuller debate.

The other issue I wish to raise is the impact Brexit will have for Rosslare Europort. There has been good news in that we are seeing a number of additional direct sailings from Rosslare. We will need more direct sailings. Rosslare Europort will need to become a tier 1 port in the event of whatever Brexit happens, whatever deal we get. The completion of the M11 from Oilgate to Rosslare is essential to cope with all the traffic that will be coming through. If the Oilgate to Rosslare route - the dual carriageway - is not completed, we will see further traffic jams. Councillor Willie Kavanagh who lives in Oilgate regularly talks about the problems he sees in village because of where the M11 currently ends. In discussing the Brexit issue, I ask that the M11 to Rosslare Europort be fully completed.