Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)

I take this opportunity to wish the organisers of the Kildare Derby Festival well. On Sunday, the 160th Irish Derby will be held. Many will be travelling to the Curragh for the festival. Indeed, many will be travelling to Kildare town as the week progresses.A lot of really good activities are planned, including a Jack L concert in the cathedral tomorrow night. Unfortunately, with possible voting here, I doubt I will make it. I wish everyone involved the best. Racing has a very special place in Kildare. In saying that, it is ironic that this morning, the legendary trainer, Kevin Prendergast, was laid to rest. He was synonymous with the Curragh, with the Irish Derby and with racing. My deepest sympathies go to Kevin's family and the racing fraternity.

I want to raise an issue that struck us all over the weekend when we read newspaper reports about Tattle Life. I have to confess that I did not know much about it beforehand. This is a gossip forum that draws about 12 million visits per month. It had been hosting anonymous threads full of speculation, harassment, lies and doxxing, especially targeting public figures. A landmark defamation case was successful last week. Neil and Donna Sands were awarded a sizeable amount of money after they proved that Tattle Life defamed them. The case showed the operator of the site to be a tech entrepreneur, Sebastian Bond. It is a big breakthrough, not because of the amount of money, but because of the fact that somebody could be found guilty of something like this. It is really important. Brian Dowling, a fellow Rathangan person, is among those who have shared about how Tattle Life posted really intrusive and harmful content about him and his family. Ireland plays a crucial role in EU online safety because it hosts the European headquarters of many large online platforms. This makes the country a key enforcement point for EU regulations like the Digital Services Act. It is important that we use this. We need to have a debate in the House on it.

I also want to mention the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person (Amendment) Bill 2024, which I introduced and which has gone through Committee Stage. It seeks to make catfishing illegal. This will go hand in hand with Coco's law to make life safer for everybody online. I would appreciate a debate in relation to that. The notorious GAA catfishing case that was related on "The 2 Johnnies Podcast" showed how fake profiles can manipulate, defame and impersonate. It is beyond time for us to take strong action on this.