Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming in with this vitally important legislation. It is critical to how we define our society, culture and democracy. There has been much reference already to the Oireachtas Joint Committee Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media and the work it has done on this Bill. I have to say, along with Senators Cassells, Warfield and Carrigy, and our colleagues in the other House, we worked very closely in a collaborative way. We put aside our party differences and realised how important this work was.

I am very grateful, as I am sure all my colleagues are, that the Minister took on board most of the 33 recommendations from our committee, especially in the area of a strong and well-resourced online safety commissioner. I also thank all of the witnesses who came before us and the officials from the Minister's Department who have done significant work on this.

The Bill is so critical to our democracy and Second Stage debate is about the broad principles, but dealing with it on Committee Stage will be very important and analysing it section by section. I hope that this debate is not rushed when it goes before the House. I appreciate there is an urgency to some elements of this legislation, but sufficient time needs to be given to some of the debates around the issues. Debates on these issues include the question of how one balances freedom of expression with responsibilities and tackling online harms and other issues to which some colleagues have already referred. Being able to get philosophical concepts tied down into legal definitions will be challenging, but we must do it and get it right.

I noted the Minister was somewhat specific in terms of staffing levels. Colleagues have already referred to one of the challenges around the levels of resourcing. If this agency is to be the one to act around the enforcement and oversight of the Digital Services Act, I am not convinced that 300 members of staff will be sufficient. This is likely to be the most powerful regulator in the State or, certainly, one of them. The Minister needs to ensure there is ambition, not just in staffing numbers, but in terms of the level of staffing. We cannot have a situation, which has arisen with regard to the Data Protection Commissioner around the enforcement of data privacy, arising in this area.

Senator McGahon is right about how this will go. This regulator will be looking at regulating activity in the metaverse. It will be dealing with a convergence of new technologies, ones about which we have not even thought. We have to ensure the regulator is ahead of the curve. I welcome that we are looking at codes, algorithmic decision making and the use of algorithms more widely. That will certainly be important.

My party and the Government strongly supports the introduction of a content levy. We see its purpose as, very clearly, to support the vibrant independent production sector here in order that we can ensure Irish stories are told internationally. It is important we know how this content levy will operate. We need to have it in detail and in a way that will enhance and develop the Irish independent content creation sector.

I will turn to the issue we debated most which is the question of how we deal with online harms and safety. I am sure the Minister will be aware this will probably be the biggest element of the debates we will have. One of the most interesting discussions we had was with Mr. Julian Inman-Grant, the Australian eSafety Commissioner. That office has been up and running for six years. We can certainly learn a lot from what has happened and the experience in Australia.

I understand the challenges around an individual complaints mechanism and I support it. However, given the sheer volume of complaints, what one does not want, especially if we are regulating at a European level, is for a regulator to be overwhelmed. We need to look at very clear definitions in the legislation around online harms. A taxonomy of online harms needs to be drawn up. We need to use technology and harness AI and other technologies to be able to tackle some of the problems we face.

I appreciate why the Minister gave the 90 days to the expert group. I am not sure it will necessarily be able to come up with all the answers within that period. Similar to Senator Higgins, I have concerns around the terms of reference given to the group.One final point on it is something I will look to amend. It is something we talked about with the students who came in, for instance, from Kinsale Community School and Tallaght Community School, around the idea of an online safety youth advisory council. It is that we engage young people to be able to advise the online safety commissioner. This is something we might explore further.

I sincerely thank the Minister. I know she is committed to this Bill. This is hugely important - I would even say one of the most important items of legislation that we could enact over the term of this Oireachtas. I hope that, on Committee Stage, we have sufficient time to debate in detail the core philosophical questions that we have to address.