Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions – Dáil Éireann (34th Dáil) – Tuesday, 20 Jan 2026

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions

Sports Funding

Joanna Byrne

Question:

130. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the total amount of both LSSIF and CSFF funding drawn down in 2025; the list of all groups that received funding, in tabular form; if, in light of the arduous grant applications process and difficulties organisations have found with the LSSIF-CSFF process, he has recognised this difficulty, resulting in future rounds being simplified; if not, if he has considered providing assistance for voluntary-led organisations that might not have the skill set to navigate through the existing difficult application process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4111/26]

Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport (Deputy Charlie McConalogue)

I thank Deputy Byrne for the question. I know these are funds she has a strong interest in.

As the Deputy knows, my Department operates two capital funding programmes for sport, namely the community sports facilities fund, CSFF, and the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF. Sporting organisations can apply directly for CSFF funding while applications to the LSSIF must be made through either a national governing body, NGB, of a sport or a local authority.

The Department made a total of 2,500 CSFF payments to over 1,400 sporting organisations in 2025, with a total value of just over €71 million. Details of all CSFF payments made to clubs in 2025 are available on the Department's website. That is relevant to the Deputy's question. Payments to LSSIF grantees in 2025 totalled just under €25 million. Details of those payments are available on the Department's website. I will ask my Department to send the links directly to the Deputy.

I am acutely aware of the need to assist all applicants, in particular first-time and rural organisations, in advance of the next funding round in terms of guidance on the scheme itself and on the application process. In this regard, I am currently inviting sporting organisations to information and consultation evenings on the CSFF. We held one of those in County Louth just before Christmas. We held another in Galway East and another will be held in Kilkenny this coming Thursday. The feedback from these information evenings is valuable to the Department to better understand the experiences, needs and challenges faced by clubs and other organisations. This feedback will be an important input to our preparations for the next round. My aim is to have as many eligible sporting bodies as possible in a position to apply so that the Government is in a position to support them in the important work they do at community and grassroots levels.

Deputy Joanna Byrne

I am delighted for all the successful applicants and I know the funding will be put to good use. All of these grants are vital to our counties and local communities' sporting infrastructure. Many of our sporting bodies, from national governing bodies to local clubs, have put out reports and press statements on the need for new infrastructure and the upgrading of existing facilities. These funding streams are crucial to that. In the last round of the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, there were 96 applications, with just 35 being successful. We need a new focus on sport in this country and additional funding to be allocated. I am going to keep repeating that.

Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael made commitments in their manifestos to increase the betting tax from 2% to 3% and to use this funding to invest in sport, but this has not been done yet. That increase of 1% in the levy would have raised an additional €50 million in desperately needed funding for Irish sport.

To harness and evolve various sports, the simple fact is we need more funding, but we also need application processes that are user friendly. The information and consultation evenings are welcome. I look forward to seeing more of them being rolled out.

Deputy Charlie McConalogue

Our objective is to try to make the application process for both the sports facilities fund and the large-scale infrastructure fund as accessible and workable for clubs as possible. Obviously, when it comes to the large-scale infrastructure fund, the grants are of a much more significant scale - into the millions - and there is therefore more involved in the application process. We take on board the views of local authorities and the national governing bodies in relation to the prioritisation of those. We have had two rounds since 2019 of the large-scale sport infrastructure fund. The fund was recommended as part of the national sports strategy. There had not been a fund to cater for projects of this scale before. It was a really important step to ensure that there was funding for projects of scale to be able to be supported by the Government. Obviously, the demand is larger than the supply. Under the national development plan, though, we have funding for another round over the course of this Government. We will be looking to ensure that we engage with sporting organisations, local authorities and national governing bodies in advance of that to make sure that the process is as practical as possible while being robust at the same time.

Deputy Joanna Byrne

It is important to note that national governing bodies are finding difficulties with the application process. I have been around the country, as has the Minister of State, meeting these organisations. There is a general agreement any time we talk about the grant application processes that they are overly bureaucratic. It is all right for large organisations that have the funds to hire in companies to assist them with their applications, but it is still a drain on limited resources. Smaller organisations simply do not have that luxury. Could we bear that in mind going forward and, if a remedy is needed, do something about it?

Deputy Charlie McConalogue

It is something that we bore in mind. We are aiming at having a new round of the sports capital fund by early summer. We will certainly be taking on board the feedback we receive before then from sports clubs around the country and Deputies on trying to make sure that it is as accessible as possible. I know there have been challenges in the past. The smaller the organisation, the more challenging and daunting it can seem to apply. We do not want that to be the case. In terms of how we structure it, while we will have to have a robust and fair system, we also want to make sure it is an accessible system. That will be to the forefront of our minds in the final framing of the application process.

Sports Organisations

Robert O'Donoghue

Question:

131. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if he accepts that safeguarding in sport must extend beyond child protection to include clear and enforceable adult safeguarding standards; the steps taken by his Department and Sport Ireland to ensure consistent adult safeguarding policies across all sports organisations; and if he will introduce a requirement that all sporting bodies adopt such policies as a condition of public funding and affiliation. [3661/26]

Deputy Robert O'Donoghue

Safeguarding in sport must be extended beyond child protection to include clear and enforceable adult safeguarding standards.

Deputy Charlie McConalogue

I thank Deputy O'Donoghue for his question on an important issue. As we know, everyone involved in sport in any capacity, regardless of age, should be able to enjoy an experience that is free from any form of abuse. The creation of a culture that promotes the safety and welfare of all involved must be at the core of the operations of all of our national governing bodies of sport. Sport Ireland, as the authority tasked with the development of sport in Ireland, works with the NGBs to ensure that appropriate safeguarding and athlete welfare policies are put in place, as well as mechanisms to handle complaints or issues when they arise.

Sport Ireland launched a national code of conduct template for sporting organisations in 2023, setting out guidelines and principles promoting the behaviours and conduct expected from athletes, coaches, parents and guardians as well as supporters, referees and officials, and club members. All NGBs were asked to use this template code of conduct as an opportunity to review their existing policies and procedures for handling code breaches in order to ensure a safe and respectful environment for all involved in Irish sport.

In 2025, Sport Ireland commissioned Safe Sport International to conduct a needs analysis in the area of safe sport for adults. The analysis included extensive consultation with sport sector stakeholders, safe sport advocates and other relevant stakeholders, including people with lived experience in this area. Sport Ireland is currently considering the resultant report, which will be central to informing future guidance.

Sport Ireland has an extensive suite of guidelines and codes of practice for the protection of children in sport, consistent with child protection guidance and legislation. There is regular communication between Sport Ireland and NGBs regarding NGBs' responsibilities in these areas.

As Minister of State, I fully support the implementation of effective safeguarding policies and procedures for adults and children across the sports sector while acknowledging that NGBs are independent, autonomous organisations responsible for their own governance, including safeguarding procedures and disciplinary and complaints processes.

Deputy Robert O'Donoghue

Given the increasing and well-evidenced recognition of abuse, coercive control and harassment experienced by adults across sporting environments, not only within elite levels of sports but within community clubs and local clubs, does the Minister of State accept that the continued absence of a mandatory adult safeguarding policy constitutes a serious gap in governance, accountability and participant protection? In light of the clear duty of care owed to all participants, how can the Minister for State justify the reliance on voluntary and inconsistent safeguarding measures, particularly where power imbalances, dependency and vulnerability are known risks? Concrete steps need to be taken to develop a comprehensive national framework for adult safeguarding in sport. It would be great if the Minister of State could outline a clear timeline for the introduction and implementation of mandatory safeguarding standards for adults across all sporting bodies. He mentioned guidelines. Is there anything more concrete on a timeline?

Deputy Charlie McConalogue

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. It is crucial that everyone has a security and safety support network around them to ensure they can safely participate in sport. This takes a lot of effort by our clubs to make sure those structures are in place. It also forms a key part of the Government's work, with Sport Ireland, to ensure support and guidance are provided to NGBs. That is fully expected and required of the NGBs to continue to be able to avail of State support and funding. The ongoing work by clubs in all sports is exceptional. It takes massive voluntary effort by people every evening and at weekends to make sure support is available to young people and adults to participate in sports and structures are in place to ensure they are safe and protected from risk. We will continue to make sure this at the core of everything we do from a sporting point of view.

Deputy Robert O'Donoghue

The absence of robust safeguarding policies in many sports often comes to light by chance. However, even minimal scrutiny reveals that safeguarding is frequently treated as an afterthought for adults. It is only considered once something goes seriously wrong. When these situations arise, clubs are often ill-prepared to respond appropriately. Responsibility is often placed on ordinary volunteers and members, many of whom have no training or experience in dealing with domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, stalking or intimidation. They are left attempting to address policies retroactively rather than proactively. By that stage, damage has already been done, trust has been broken and the safety and well-being of club members may have been profoundly compromised.

Deputy Charlie McConalogue

Sport Ireland sets the criteria. It has a strong set of criteria for child safeguarding compliance. It is a compulsory requirement for NGBs and a critical element of NGB funding. These criteria are reviewed twice annually. NGBs are required to submit their child safeguarding statements to Sport Ireland for review. Sport Ireland expects all funded organisations, as does the Government which funds Sport Ireland, to maintain those high standards of governance, strategic planning and operational delivery, including but not limited to coaching, development, anti-doping and safeguarding. Failure to meet these standards that are agreed to, whether through governance shortcomings, failure to deliver on strategic objectives, financial mismanagement or actions that are not supportive of the commitments to national programmes, such as safeguarding, may result in a range of consequences, including repayment, cessation of funding, suspension or termination of funding or of formal recognition. We have a strong oversight mechanism in place and we will continue to keep a strong focus on it.

Departmental Funding

Joanna Byrne

Question:

132. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the steps he will take to ensure stronger oversight, better value for money and improved transparency in the use of public funds across the arts, culture, and media sectors (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4110/26]

Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport (Deputy Patrick O'Donovan)

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The public accounts committee published a report last November in respect of the 2023 appropriation account for Vote 33, which was the then Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, together with the 2023 financial statement of the Arts Council and the National Gallery of Ireland. In the report, the committee identified governance and oversight concerns across the Department and its agencies, including the Arts Council and the National Gallery. I understand the Minister for public expenditure will shortly issue his formal reply to the committee on the report.

I am committed to ensuring the highest standards of oversight, value for money and transparency. I have acted to address the issues identified in the report. These include the appointment of an expert advisory committee in regard to the Arts Council whose report I brought to the Government today; engagement with the Institute of Public Administration to provide expert independent advice around governance and oversight to my Department; and establishing a dedicated State body governance unit within the Department.

Transparency regarding departmental use of funds is ensured via publication of the annual budget books, the annual Revised Estimate and the annual appropriation account, as audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Each of these bodies under the aegis of the Department produces its own annual report and accounts, which are subject to audit and laid before both Houses. The Department and the bodies under its aegis, where relevant, appear before the public accounts committee and both Joint and Select Committees on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport.

My Department continues to advance work to improve oversight and governance of the State bodes under its aegis. This will ensure the highest robust, comprehensive, transparent and efficient oversight and governance framework for all those bodies, consistent with my commitment to ensuring that State bodies operate with accountability, integrity and efficiency. In addition, the Department has completed an evaluation of the Department's performance information system, as recommended in the 2023 report on the accounts of the public services issued by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Guidance and training on the value of performance information and approach to choosing robust indicators has been provided for all staff. These steps, together with ongoing compliance within procurement and appraisal guidelines, will help to ensure the Department delivers value for money.

Deputy Joanna Byrne

I am a member of the public accounts committee. I am glad the Minister mentioned the report we published in November. The highlights of that were the capital underspend in 2023; the National Gallery's X-ray equipment; the Art Council's failed IT project; departmental oversight and governance failures; decline in the RTÉ licence fee income and emergency funding; performance measurement deficiencies; the Art Council's grant funding; and strategic funding transparency. It is a laundry list of failures of oversight and management by the Government that has dominated hours of debates in this Chamber and at multiple committees. These were only the 2023 scandals. I ask for a commitment that we will not see a repeat of this in the 2024 reports.

Deputy Patrick O'Donovan

What the Deputy has seen from me so far is that once I become aware of the issue with the Arts Council and the issues in the National Gallery, I dealt with them, and I did so fairly comprehensively. The report on the Arts Council was published today. It runs to 245 pages and contains well in excess of 190 recommendations. There are recommendations for all Departments, including my Department, State bodies and the Arts Council.

Regarding the issue with the National Gallery, we dealt with that. The X-ray scanner went into use before Christmas. Regarding capital underspend, I have addressed this issue with the Deputy and Deputy Ó Snodaigh previously. The problem we have with many of the buildings housing the national cultural institutions is that they are not straightforward buildings like Leinster House. We have to go through a difficult and protracted procurement system. If we did not do so, we would be accused of jumping the gun and not obeying procurement rules or adhering to the public spending code. Based on the changes we have made in 2025, we will see a far better outcome regarding capital output in 2026.

Deputy Joanna Byrne

That is a heartening response. I will point out that there are 149 recommendations in the report dealing with one entity. We sincerely hope we will not have to have reports on all these bodies with similar recommendations. If we are learning from that going forward, that is warmly welcomed.

Deputy Patrick O'Donovan

I hope the Deputy had a chance to look at the report. It took me from 5 January until today to get in under the bonnet of it. Not all 149 recommendations are necessarily attributable to the Arts Council alone. There is an awful lot in the report from which other agencies can learn as well. Similar issues have arisen in other bodies, as I know from my time on the public accounts committee. One of the greatest learnings of the report is that small bodies such as the Arts Council sometimes expect to deliver once-in-a-lifetime projects and they do not have the experience to do so. The failings were laid bare in this case. The report will make important reading, not only for the Arts Council but for other State agencies and Government Departments.

Arts Council

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

133. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport when he will publish the report of Professor Niamh Brennan into governance and culture at the Arts Council; and the timetable for the implementation of the recommendations within that report. [4113/26]

Deputy Patrick O'Donovan

In February 2025, I ordered an external review of the governance and organisational culture in the Arts Council, following the disclosure of a loss on a failed €6.675 million IT project in the Arts Council's annual report for 2023. With the agreement of the Government, I established an expert advisory committee comprising Professor Niamh Brennan, Dr. Margaret Cullen and John McCarthy to deliver the review. The committee has concluded its work and today I brought its review to Government, which approved its publication and it is now publicly available.

The committee was fully independent in its approach and has ensured that the review process was robust, fair and transparent, leading to practical, actionable recommendations to improve the Arts Council's governance. The review includes 149 recommendations, as Deputy Ó Snodaigh has said, of which 100 are addressed to the Arts Council. The remainder are to the Department, the Department of public expenditure and reform and other Departments. It includes proposals for legislative changes, on which I intend to revert to Government. As I have mentioned, there are also a number of recommendations directed at my Department and more widely for the Government.

It is vital that we put in place structures to prevent future governance failures and I intend to implement in full the recommendations which are addressed to my Department and to the Arts Council. The Department will now engage directly with the interim director and the chair of the Arts Council to ensure that the organisation is supported during this interim period, ahead of what will be a time of significant change. This will be important for the wider arts sector and I want to assure it that the council will continue its day-to-day operation of supporting artists.

The Arts Council will have six weeks from today to submit a plan to me that sets out the actions it will take to implement the committee's recommendations, along with timelines for delivery. I have also instructed officials in the Department to establish a monitoring group to measure the Arts Council's progress and to ensure that it delivers on its implementation plan.

The recommendations that relate to my Department have been accepted and will be implemented in full, under the oversight of the management board. Progress will be measured through a quarterly report with a view to ensuring that the Department has a robust, comprehensive and effective governance oversight framework in place, not just in respect of the Arts Council but for all of the bodies under our responsibility.

Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh

I welcome that there is already a set timetable in terms of the recommendations for the Arts Council and the Minister's Department but the report itself goes beyond the Department and some of it is cross-cutting. The report was commissioned by the Minister and I take the opportunity to thank Professor Brennan and her team for publishing it. It identifies a lot of issues, some of which have already been addressed in the Arts Council and some of which have already been addressed, as far as I know, in the Department. There are substantial issues in terms of the public service as a whole to ensure such debacles do not happen again in smaller public sector bodies. There are recommendations which go beyond the Department. Has the Minister liaised with the Department of public expenditure and reform to ensure the recommendations associated with it will also progress?

Deputy Patrick O'Donovan

Deputy Ó Snodaigh has raised a very important issue. The formulation, compilation and completion of the report was done independently but prior to the conclusion of the report the chapters relating to each individual entity were circulated to those entities for their observations. I did not receive the final report until 5 January and I published it today. I have accepted Professor Brennan's recommendations together with the committee in full and I thank the committee for the work it has done. As they say, it has done the State some service here. There is an opportunity as well for the committee of which Deputy Ó Snodaigh is a member to peruse the report, go through the recommendations and see. I will bring forward a timetable for implementation from the Arts Council which I will take back to the Government. I will have a quarterly review from my management board which I will also report to the Government. There is an awful lot here for other Departments, State bodies and semi-State bodies to examine to see whether there are recommendations that cross over and to see how they could be implemented to improve the operation of these bodies.

Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh

One of the key points that jumped out at me, given the context of other failed IT programmes, is that the report emphasised that a multiplicity of public service bodies of a similar scale to the Arts Council should be better supported from within the public sector when it comes to undertaking projects akin to the Arts Council project. There is a challenge there for the Government as a whole. The Minister is not responsible for this but I urge him to use the opportunity at Cabinet, when the report comes up, to remind all Departments that it is public money at the end of the day.

There is still an IT issue in the Arts Council. The project collapsed and obviously there is a need to address the grants application system, which was using a defunct system which was held together with Sellotape, I am told. There is also the issue of the directorship. Dr. Moling Ryan is temporarily in the job as an interim director. Is there any word on when the Minister is likely to be able to fill the role permanently?

Deputy Patrick O'Donovan

I think Deputy Ó Snodaigh would agree with me that the Arts Council has gone through a fairly tumultuous period of change in the recent past, and I acknowledge the role that Dr. Moling Ryan has played as an interim director. I have no plans in the immediate future to do any further chopping and changing. I want to leave things bed down and get a genuine schedule and timetable for the change management that is now required to go through. There will also be legislative requirements and Professor Niamh Brennan referred to this also. Deputy Ó Snodaigh and I have discussed possible changes to the existing Arts Act. There will obviously be consultation and engagement with the committee that we will have to do. I do not want to see any other major change. There is a sufficient amount there.

On whether the Arts Council will get a new IT system, there is a board and executive and it may be that they may feel it is worthy to come back to the Department and revisit this whole thing from the start. There was a suggestion of an off-the-shelf version that could be acquired. I will consider anything but at the moment the most important thing is that the report is there, the recommendations need to be implemented, there is a schedule of timeframes before the implementation, there is engagement with the committee and there is the Arts Council getting back to the daily business of what it is best at.

Artificial Intelligence

Pádraig O'Sullivan

Question:

134. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if he has had engagement with an organisation (details supplied) in relation to the use of AI to generate harmful and illegal content on the platform, the dissemination of same on the platform; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3728/26]

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan

In recent weeks we have seen extremely troubling reports about the misuse of Grok, the AI tool developed by xAI and integrated into the X platform. This tool has enabled users to generate sexualised images of real people, including children. What engagement has the Minister had with this organisation in relation to the use of AI to generate harmful and illegal content on that platform over the past number of weeks?

Deputy Patrick O'Donovan

I want to put on the record my disgust at the type of material that is being created and shared on social media. It is abhorrent. My first concern is with those affected, in particular women, young children and young people in general.

The sharing of non-consensual intimate images is illegal under the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020, also known as Coco's Law; and the generation or distribution of any child sexual abuse material is illegal under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998. If a member of the public is concerned about images shared online, they should report it immediately to An Garda Síochána. Such reports and complaints are important for An Garda Síochána in its investigations of suspected criminality, and it is the responsibility of the Director of Public Prosecutions to direct prosecution of any individual or company for alleged offences.

People should also report this type of content to Hotline.ie, the national reporting centre, which will also pursue the removal of that content. Finally, under our online safety framework, there is an obligation on platforms to act on reports of illegal content. This is why I would encourage any user to report illegal content to the online platform where they saw it and to Coimisiún na Meán. An coimisiún utilises complaints to help assess compliance by platforms with the online safety framework so reporting illegal content helps an coimisiún in its work.

Under the Digital Services Act, the European Commission has lead responsibility for the oversight of very large online platforms, including X. The European Commission has been very clear in warning X that it must remedy this matter and X has claimed it has taken certain steps to do so. However, the European Commission is taking investigative steps and an announcement on further action is expected imminently. This may include interim measures such as requiring a change to a service.

Coimisiún na Meán is Ireland's digital services co-ordinator under the Digital Services Act and in this role it is continuing to work with the European Commission on this serious matter. I support the European Commission, as the lead regulator, in taking all possible and necessary steps to ensure that X is brought into compliance with its regulatory obligations.

As Minister, it would be wrong to seek to interfere with the process of investigation but I am committed, along with my Government colleagues, to doing all that is required to ensure that people, in particular women, children and young people, are protected online. Ireland has strong laws in place and the Attorney General is continuing to examine whether these can be further strengthened. I will bring a memorandum to Government in the coming weeks to set out our next steps.

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan

I thank the Minister for his comprehensive response. I echo his sentiment. I and other members of the media committee feel the behaviour that has occurred in recent weeks is illegal and harmful and we cannot tolerate it.

Can the Minister outline any direct interaction he has had with X? Has he had such interaction with it or does he intend to do so? One thing I picked up from the witnesses who appeared before the media committee last week is that there is probably plenty of legislation in place but that the necessary resources are lacking in the context of ensuring that we can enforce it. I found it interesting that from the point of view of some of those witnesses, it is almost expected that the large social media platforms will honour their side of the bargain in terms of enforcement. Outside of X, does the Minister feel that this kind of mutual co-operation in enforcing legislation is there among all the social media platforms?

The representatives from the Garda Síochána indicated that the force was investigating 200 or so images at that point. Does the Minister know if the number of such images has increased in the week since their appearance at the media committee?

Deputy Patrick O'Donovan

I will take the last question first. I do not know if the number has increased. That is because it is a Garda matter. It is not for the Government to interfere in the operations of the Garda Síochána, nor is it the role of the Minister to interfere where there is an independent regulator. In this case, there are two independent regulators, namely Coimisiún na Meán and the European Commission. Due to the very large nature of the online platform under scrutiny in this instance, X, this is a matter for the Commission in the first instance. As the Deputy probably heard me say, I am expecting a statement imminently from the European Commission on this matter. I thought it would have come today or yesterday but it did not. I expect that, hopefully, it will come before the end of the week. The sooner it comes the better, to be quite honest.

In the context of my interaction with X, I met with its representatives prior to Christmas. I met them along with representatives from a number of other platforms, including Google, TikTok, Meta and LinkedIn. In respect of the latest controversy, given the fact I am the Minister with responsibility for the regulator and ensuring that the regulator fulfils its role, I do not think, to be quite honest, that it would be appropriate for me to meet somebody who would potentially be under investigation, no more than it would be appropriate for the Minister for Justice to meet them if it was a Garda-related matter.

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan

A lot of this is new to us. This is obviously developing very fast. The very nature of these media platforms and AI tools in particular mean that much of it is new. When questioning the Minister, I am not trying to point the finger at Coimisiún na Meán or anybody else. In retrospect, does the Minister think that we could have acted on this faster, particularly in the context of learning lessons for the future and so on? The Minister said he hopes that a statement will be forthcoming, and the sooner the better. In that context, does he think, in retrospect, that we could have done anything better?

The Minister is probably aware that X has refused to send representatives to appear before the media committee of which Deputy Byrne and I are members. Does the Minister think that is an error on X's part and that it should reconsider its position?

Deputy Patrick O'Donovan

I do think it is a mistake. To be quite honest, X should send representatives. The company is operating in the jurisdiction. The last time I was asked about people attending the committee in question was when the FAI said that it was not going to send representatives. I was asked on the radio whether I thought its representatives should appear and I said that they should. I also stated that a letter should be issued on the afternoon of that day. A letter was issued. I think X's representatives should go in. Representatives from all the platforms should do so. Failure to engage with the people's representatives in Dáil Éireann says an awful lot. I do not think other social media platforms take that view. They have engaged with the committee and I know that Coimisiún na Meán has done so as well.

In relation to what we have done, it is important to point out that the House has taken significant steps with regard to issues around child sex abuse, pornography and pornographic images of children. The State has acted in that context. It has also acted very clearly in respect of the sharing of images in a non-consensual fashion. It is illegal to do that in this country. We had a meeting the other night, convened by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, in respect of this issue. I will be bringing a memorandum to the Government on this matter shortly in order to update it on what exactly the current situation is vis-à-vis the law. If there are further changes that I or the Minister of Justice or both of us together need to do in this space, we will make them. Ideally, this should be done by the European Commission. It is regrettable that the European Union has not done more in this space.

Dáil Éireann debate - Tuesday, 20 Jan 2026