“Regulation of the internet is not an issue that falls within my responsibility or, indeed, that of any part of our devolved Executive.”
For which, I think, we should be very grateful indeed. Not that such constitutional technicalities prevented MLAs, of all parties, from enthusiastically debating a Sinn Féin motion last week calling for the Northern Ireland Justice Minister “to explore the introduction of better regulation of [social networking websites]”. Here’s Newton Emerson’s response in Saturday’s Irish News Worse was to come when Stormont debated social-networking sites, in a session that might as well have been entitled “we support free speech, but”. One MLA …