Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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266. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the nature of her proposals to ensure the elimination of abuses such as bullying and intimidation through social media; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55450/21]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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267. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if further action is required to address bullying and intimidation through social media; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55451/21]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 266 and 267 together.

The Online Safety and Media Regulation (OSMR) Bill will establish a multi-person Media Commission, including an Online Safety Commissioner, dissolve the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, establish regulatory frameworks for online safety and the regulation of audiovisual media services, and transpose the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive.

It will be the role of the Online Safety Commissioner to oversee the regulatory framework for online safety. As part of the framework, the Commissioner will devise binding online safety codes that will set out how regulated online services, including social media services, are expected to deal with certain defined categories of harmful online content on their platforms. The defined categories of harmful online content include criminal material, serious cyber-bullying material and material promoting self-harm, suicide and eating disorders.

Under the measures proposed in the OSMR Bill, in the event of a failure to comply with a relevant online safety code, and subject to Court approval, the Media Commission will have the power to sanction non-compliant online services, including through financial sanctions of up to €20m or 10% of turnover.

The Deputy may wish to note also that An Garda Síochána will remain the appropriate authority to investigate individual instances of criminal material online and refer alleged perpetrators for prosecution by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The OSMR Bill is focussed on ensuring that there is appropriate oversight of the systems that designated online services have in place to deal with such content.

In terms of progress, the Joint Oireachtas Committee (JOC) for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media recently published its pre-legislative scrutiny report in relation to the General Scheme of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill.  The 33 recommendations contained in the report raise a wide range of important issues and highlight the scale and complexity of the matters to be addressed in the Bill. These recommendations are now being given careful consideration, following which the detailed drafting process being undertaken by the Office of the Attorney General will be finalised.  The next steps will be publication of the Bill and it will then be brought forward for passage through the Houses of the Oireachtas.

I am pleased to note also that €5.5 million was allocated in Budget 2022 to establish a new regulator, the Media Commission, under the OSMR Bill, including an Online Safety Commissioner.  While the Commission will ultimately be funded by an industry levy, this start-up funding will enable the Commission to begin work on key issues and to hit the ground running following the enactment of the Bill in 2022.