Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As members know, Sinn Féin strongly welcomes the introduction of the electoral reform Bill, particularly the proposition to establish an electoral reform commission. We are keen it has the maximum levels of powers, particularly adequate resourcing and funding. We also support the move towards a centralised register of electors and an updated and appropriate register given the difficulties that all of us experience with it.

The one area of the Bill with which we have concerns is the regulation of online advertising, which we feel is weak. That is shared by many members of the committee. Accordingly, we would like to see that strengthened.

There are three reasons our secretary general appointed me. First, this is about the electoral reform Bill and I am the party spokesperson on the issue, meaning I am best placed to answer questions about it. I also have been fighting elections for 25 years, including being a director of elections most recently in the Dublin Mid-West by-election. I have hands-on knowledge of how we use the electoral register and can provide those questions with detailed answers. I also provide canvass training for party members.

We do not use the electoral register for anything other than electoral purposes. We do not cross-reference data or information from any other source.

We use the register along with face-to-face, door-to-door canvassing to do exactly what Mr. McShea, Mr. Carroll and others have outlined, which is about identifying and targeting our vote and getting it out on the day. It is a really important tool regardless of whether you do it with paper and pen and hold the information in a biscuit tin, whether you use private sector databases such as, for example, Blue State, NationBuilder or Ecanvasser, or whether you have a centrally provided facility, as we do. This is a key tool for voter engagement, mobilisation and turnout.

Just so people are very clear, we do not hold a national database. What we have is an online platform in which every general election and local government constituency can access the electoral register. One of the advantages of using a system like that is that it is much easier to ensure compliance rather than having to rely in many cases on volunteers, candidates and elected representatives in multiple constituencies having to grapple with the complexities of the general data protection legislation, GDPR, and the relevant legislation. Some of the characterisations are misinformed but I am happy to go through all that in further detail during questions and answers.