Irish Examiner view: Misreporting on social media adding to crime burden

The wholehearted support of the Government is needed to help media regulator Coimisiún na Meán to achieve its aims.

Assistant Garda commissioner for the Dublin metropolitan region, Paul Cleary, is expected to push for social media companies to do more on disinformation and its associated dangers. Picture:  Collins Courts

We have reached a point in Irish life where serious crimes must not only be dealt with on their own terms, but the reporting and representation of those crimes have become entirely separate challenges.

The attack on a garda earlier this week in Dublin city centre is a case in point — the crime itself exists in parallel with how it has been misrepresented and weaponised by those following their own agenda. It is welcome news that assistant Garda commissioner for the Dublin metropolitan region, Paul Cleary, is to meet with Coimisiún na Meán, the media regulator, regarding the incident. Mr Cleary is expected to push for social media companies to do more on disinformation and its associated dangers.

This is a serious problem. Soon after the Garda attack in Dublin this week, former MMA fighter Conor McGregor referred to the incident online and cited the Irish Government’s “human trafficking racket” in a post which was viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

Whether anyone should be giving credence to the views of Mr McGregor, a convicted criminal, is immaterial; as Mr Cleary pointed out, misinformation and disinformation are “...concerning, and we would ask people to make sure that the source of their information is credible”.

The fact that Mr Cleary is to meet with Coimisiún na Meán coincides with a parallel story developing this week.

Social media platform X is expected to appeal a High Court ruling dismissing its action against Coimisiún na Meán over its online safety code. The code sets out legally binding rules for video-sharing platforms and is aimed at protecting the public, and especially children, from harmful online content.

The fact that the post mentioned above from Mr McGregor featured on X gives this story a certain neatness.

What is more significant is that such legal challenges function as implicit endorsements of the work of Coimisiún na Meán and suggest it is achieving its aims. The wholehearted support of the Government is now needed to ensure the regulator can continue that work.

Housing crisis - All fixes must be considered

With no end of the accommodation crisis in sight, we have grown accustomed to hearing that all solutions must be considered to relieve what should be seen as a national disgrace.

That should be borne in mind, perhaps, when considering a new proposal from the Government — public consultation begins this week on a measure to increase the allowance for cabins or garden homes up to a size of 45sq m, larger than the original suggested upper limit of 40sq m. Minister of state for planning John Cummins said the plan was a practical move which would provide housing options for people with a disability or young people wishing to live independently of the family home in the short term.

Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne was scathing, saying the plan was open to exploitation and that there were “real concerns about the impact of allowing a huge number of unregistered log cabins proliferate ... without regard for sufficient sewerage facilities, water capacity, or fire safety access”.

Mr Hearne’s points were well made — we have seen plenty of exploitation in terms of what is being offered in the rental market to those desperate for accommodation; questions of safety and infrastructure are also valid, given the kinds of structures involved.

Even those who see this measure as a retrograde step must also consider the alternative, however. Almost 16,000 people are homeless in Ireland, and a huge proportion are children. Would those families be better off homeless or in these garden homes?

The decisions and factors which have brought us to this point are matters for discussion, but there are far more urgent questions facing us. We have a pressing need for safe accommodation in this country when the homeless outnumber the population of places such as Castlebar, Wicklow Town, and Killarney: Can we afford to disregard any proposal?

This measure may be a sticking plaster rather than a permanent cure, but that does not justify outright dismissal. As a society, are we in a position to discard even temporary measures which may house desperate families?

Seán Rocks - A voice for arts

There was widespread shock with the news yesterday morning of the death of Seán Rocks at the age of 64.

As an actor, Rocks featured at the Abbey Theatre and Gate Theatre in Dublin, as well as the Royal Court and National Tricycle theatres in London, appearing on screen in The Bill, Glenroe, and Fair City. However, he was probably best known as a broadcaster.

Rocks presented RTÉ Radio One arts programme Arena since it was launched in 2009. Over the years he interviewed dozens of artists of all kinds, including Salman Rushdie, Edna O’Brien, Frank McGuinness, Roddy Doyle, Rupert Everett, Martin Sheen, and Brendan Gleeson.

Rocks’ rich Monaghan voice was unmistakable and instantly evocative, a suitable successor to other Northern accents in RTÉ’s arts slot, such as Benedict Kiely.

In June, this newspaper featured an interview with Rocks in the ‘Culture That Made Me’ slot, where his comments on novelist Claire Keegan could just as easily be applied to his own output. Keegan’s writing, he said, “possesses such integrity. The stories she tells are so wonderfully condensed. Not a word too much. Never a melodrama, just this economic, potent, thought-through sentence after sentence.”

Condolences to his family and friends.