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19th Apr 2021

Taoiseach Micheál Martin worries about “social media’s influence on politics”

Clara Kelly

Irish people on holidays

He said that one weekend on social media can “create a mini-crisis” the following week.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that he worries about “social media’s influence on politics” and thinks people need to “stand back” and take more time to make decisions.

Speaking on Niall Breslin’s Where Is My Mind? podcast, the politician said that he believes the impact of social media on Irish politics has been “quite significant and profound”.

“I think you’re absolutely right by the way, I worry about social media’s influence on politics, it is terribly short term,” he said.

“I’ve noticed with some of the newer TDs and after this election, one weekend on social media can almost create a mini-crisis the following week in terms of an issue, ‘we’ve got to get this resolved, we’ve got to get it resolved now’.

“We have been destroyed with a sort of, this is trending and all this kind of stuff, and I’m saying, well you can’t form policy on that, you can’t just react to that.”

Martin added that he believes that both politicians and people generally need to take a step back and take more time to make decisions.

“So I do, I watched the Social Dilemma recently and I thought wow, this is a new theatre and its impact is quite significant and profound,” he said.

“I think politicians need to stand back, and not just politicians, I think people more generally, and say look we don’t have to be rushed headlong into a particular decision because of a weekend of social media or a night of social media on a particular issue or a particular topic.”

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