Online Safety
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-07
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Patrick O'Donovan (FG), Limerick County

To go back to a previous question, Coimisiún na Meán is self-financed in terms of the regulation. Regulation costs money and that is why levies are imposed. People do not like that, and the previous Deputy said she did not like it. That is a separate issue, however. I am a parent as well and I am not happy with what is happening, particularly at EU level. This issue was raised at the EU Council meeting last week, and there was a shift in attitude on it. At the previous EU Council meeting, there was a view that the Digital Services Act was enough. It was very clear last week, maybe with the exception of one or two countries, that everyone now wants action taken on this. I had a bilateral meeting with the Commissioner at which I made my Department’s priorities clear. We have one sole priority, and I laid that out clearly. Everything else the Commission wants us to do as a Government in the areas of communications, postal and everything else will be predicated on its commitment to working with us on this. If it does not work with us on this, we will not work with it on those other areas. That is the way I am going to play ball. There is no issue facing the European Union at the moment that is more pressing than the protection of our children. If people do not get that message the easy way, we will do it the hard way.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-07/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-07