Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to follow on from the previous contribution. When we focus on advertising in the digital environment we are kind of ignoring the elephant in the room. The Internet is on 24-7 and it is available in the palms of everybody's hands. It is the corrupting and corrosive effect of digital influencing on our democracy that we need to be trying to tackle. We need to try to protect the democratic process. We need to be realistic about the levels of control that can be exercised but, at a minimum, we should be exposing the very tenuous relationship that some political actors have with the truth. Does the delegation agree that if we are to invest in an electoral commission to try to protect the democratic value of our electoral activities, its remit should really cover monitoring, examining and reporting beyond the election cycle? The reality is that influencing is occurring increasingly outside the election cycle and not through advertisements. Every other form of digital communication is being used. Do the delegates agree that the remit of the electoral commission should not just be limited to the electoral cycles and that the commission should have a remit on an ongoing basis?