Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Suiter and Dr. Reidy. This is a really interesting discussion. Of course, we all know the importance of elections, which are fundamental to our democracy. Therefore, it is important that they are properly managed and evaluated. This goes without saying. I have been involved in the OSCE so I am familiar with the monitoring of elections and indeed was in the US during the mid-term elections. It was interesting to observe the discourse there. We had a workshop as part of that process a few days before polling. It was interesting to engage with different groups and discuss the major concerns about misinformation or disinformation. It is an extraordinary set-up that can in no way be compared with the Irish system.

I know Dr. Reidy has talked about it so I am particularly interested in hearing from Dr. Suiter about the auditing of electoral events, the cycle and how we can evaluate all of that because that is where the learning will be - how we can audit and learn from that system. Could the witnesses tease out international best practice regarding the auditing of electoral events, the cycle, evaluation and the learning from that in other countries such as Canada, which was mentioned by them, or New Zealand, with which we might be more familiar? I think that is critical but it has not been addressed in the heads of this Bill.