I thank the Senator. I oppose amendment No. 8, which is grouped with amendments Nos. 9 to 12, inclusive, 21, 43, 52 and 53. All those amendments relate to proposals to make certain actions obligatory for Coimisiún na Meán or the Consumer and Competition Protection Commission, CCPC. The Digital Services Bill provides that during an investigation into a suspected contravention, authorised officers of Coimisiún na Meán and the CCPC may impose a daily penalty payment on a person in order to enforce an obligation impose…

Amendment No. 14 is grouped with amendments Nos. 15 to 19, inclusive, and 45 to 50, inclusive. As all of these amendments relate to the making of a final decision either by Coimisiún na Meán or the CPCC following a request for a matter to be reviewed, as received from the European Commission under Article 59(3) of the digital services regulation. As it stands, the Bill provides for a review of the matter and that Coimisiún na Meán may adopt its initial decision as its final decision. It may initiate a new investiga…

Amendment No. 20 is taken with amendment No. 51. These amendments mirror each other except they apply to Coimisiún na Meán and the CCPC, respectively. In determining the amount of the sanction to be imposed, the Bill sets out that regulators must take account of the unique set of circumstances of a given investigation. This includes, for example, the nature and gravity of the contravention, the extent to which the provider co-operates with the regulator, the extent to which the contravention was contributed to by c…

It was not a decision made by us. It was way above our pay grade.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an mbeirt Sheanadóir. I oppose amendment No. 23, which is grouped with amendments Nos. 24, 25 and 26, all relating to vetted researchers. Amendment No. 23 seeks to include a provision that an accredited journalist or representative of an NGO may be deemed to have met the vetted researcher designation conditions if they can demonstrate their access to data would be in the public interest. Through the digital services regulation, the status of vetted researcher can be granted by the digital serv…

I am happy to respond at the end.

I will speak on the amendments. Amendments Nos. 27 to 34, inclusive, are grouped together because they all relate to trusted flaggers. Amendment No. 27, as proposed by Senator Keogan, requires an additional provision in the Bill stating that Coimisiún na Meán will "ensure the status as a trusted flagger is not awarded to an entity which is partisan and seeks the status as a trusted flagger as means of controlling or influencing content". We had a very good discussion at the committee and in the Dáil around this. It…

To pick up on Senator Higgins's comments first, I spoke earlier, even though the amendment was not accepted, around the Civil Engagement Group's amendment on algorithmic issues. I stated that first, the risk assessments audits that will be done in this process will give some information to the European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency to start building up a European profile that will tackle some of the issues. I also committed to engage with Coimisiún na Meán, with our digital services co-ordinator, Dr. John Eva…

They are very technical issues but I will absolutely engage with them as part of their work post enactment of the Bill to build confidence in that space. To come back to Senator Keogan's overall points, this Bill does not define hate speech. It is a very technical Bill that also relates to content moderation. With regard to content moderation, the DSA seeks to define the rules on content moderation by providers. There are at least two sides to that particular kind of implementation work. The DSA defines the circums…

Again, this is the DSA and this puts the DSR into effect. We were able to use the provisions of the digital services regulation on the night of the Dublin riots to alert online providers to stuff that appeared on their platforms encouraging people to come and destroy people's property and potentially people's lives. That is of huge benefit and if it can be used in terms of public security and public protection in that manner in the way that it was used it shows the very positive potential of the Bill in this regard…

I assure the Senator, and this was previously raised by Senator Ruane, that whole space is an area of concern. It is something I will raise with Coimisiún na Meán in view of its work on this at a European level. It concerns all of us, especially in view of what we have heard today.

This is about fees.

My apologies. I thought the Senator was going in a different direction. I thank the Acting Chairperson, Senator Maria Byrne. As I said to her earlier, it is good to have her back in the House. Coimisiún na Meán may specify a fee for application or review a request for a trusted flagger, vetted researchers or out-of-court dispute settlement bodies. The provision is intended to enable An Coimisiún to set nominal fees if it considers them necessary and they are only to cover costs for applications or review requests. …

That is my intention. As I said to Senator Keogan and, indeed, to Deputy Louise O'Reilly, it will be subject to regulation. We are resourcing Coimisiún na Meán. It is my Department's role to resource the digital services co-ordinator. They are getting substantial resources to do the detailed work that is carried out in this Bill and there will be no need for them to set excessive fees for people accessing it. I can assure the Senator as long as I occupy the Ministry I will be watching it. It will be set through reg…

My understanding is the amendment relates to a provision in the Bill that a person may make a complaint to Coimisiún na Meán if there has been a failure by the intermediary service provider to comply with a provision of the DSR. The amendment proposes that the text of the Bill be changed so as to explicitly state that complaints can be made about a provider or providers. I do not see the amendment as necessary because I do not see anything in the text of the Bill that would prohibit a person from making a complaint…

I take on board the Senator’s proposals and we will engage with the commissioner on that.

Amendments Nos. 37 to 40, inclusive, are grouped as they are all amendments relating to co-operation between Coimisiún na Meán and the CCPC. Section 45(1)(b) provides that Coimisiún na Meán and the CCPC may enter into a co-operation agreement. This includes for the purposes of ensuring, as far as is practicable, consistency between decisions made or other steps taken by regulators with respect to implementing the digital services regulation. Amendment No. 37 proposes the removal of the wording "as far as is practic…

I suppose it comes back to the very defined roles that I have laid out for both organisations. Either organisation can trigger a review if there are concerns on the part of either organisation. I would hope, at the very outset of this process before we even begin, that that will never have to happen and that there will be sufficient co-operation and engagement between the organisations to iron out any difficulties. We are entering into a whole new territory here. My job at the moment is to make sure that they are b…

As the Senator said, the Bill currently provides that the Minister of the day may prescribe suitable and specific measures for processing special categories of personal data. Amendment No. 41 proposes that the provision be modified to oblige the Minister within 12 months of the passing of the DSA, to prescribe specific measures for the processing of special categories of personal data. Amendment No. 42 proposes that the Bill be further amended to provide that the Minister may prescribe further suitable specific mea…

I want to acknowledge and thank the House for its co-operation in this regard. This is not my normal way of doing business, but we have to have this up and running by 17 February, in line with the EU approach on it. It was a very complex Bill and it took quite a lot of work by my Department officials, particularly the four who are with me, and also staff of the Bills Office. I will give the Senator a guarantee. I know there is a habit of regulations being loaded on people. I will ensure that every group gets specif…