Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 20 May 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of John CumminsJohn Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Just to quote what was widely reported in the media and in the Irish Independent, specifically. It referenced a training manual in relation to the Abú database. It read:

Facebook will show you the name of the person and often roughly where they live. By engaging with them you may be able to elicit more specific information that will help you pinpoint them in the real-world.

You can use the search function in the Abú system to find the person you have engaged with online, tag them as a social media engager and follow up with a canvass on their doorstep...

In response to questions from the media, the Deputy said that that was "stupidly worded" and that it was not, in fact, possible to do that on the system. That was not impossible to do on the system from what the training manual said. Is that still the Deputy's position?

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