Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When I watched the Cambridge Analytica story unfold, I watched it with horror. Normal politicians did. Today, I would like to find out whether Sinn Féin watched it unfold and wondered how it could use that strategy for its political gain. I had intended to put a number of questions to the general secretary of that party, but instead they selected a politician to give political answers to data questions, questions on the register of electors and questions on facts. I find it interesting that nobody in Sinn Féin headquarters seems to have the authority or knowledge to answer those questions on the database it holds under the strict protection legislation.

I hope Deputy Ó Broin, as the expert on electoral reform for Sinn Féin, can answer my questions. The data contained in the Abú system was described by Sinn Féin’s leadership, and by Deputy Ó Broin today, as being merely the electoral register. However, how was data scraped from the electoral register, in particular from the marked register, into Abú?