Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

That brings us to the end of the members' contributions. There are two further things I wish to stress to the Minister of State. In one of the earlier sessions on this we looked at concerns about the expertise that would be in the commission to keep pace with the rapid change in the online world and in online and digital advertising. The question asked was whether the commission should have somebody on board with that level of expertise, but if the commission has the budget to be able to engage in research and to bring in consultants with expertise in specific areas, that is very important for the ongoing work of the commission. There was reference to a static legislative measure trying to keep pace with something that is changing so quickly. I do not think any legislative measure or guideline could keep pace with what is happening so rapidly out there.

The other thing we must say is that, regardless of how much time and effort is put into online advertising and attempts to influence elections, we must have confidence in our electorate. Any electors whose doors I have knocked on, and we all have knocked on the doors for years, are informed and aware. They are well able to weed out the bluffers and the chancers when they see them, so we must have faith and confidence in the electorate as well.

I thank the Minister of State for his engagement and thank his officials for their attendance. As I said, we will do our very best to complete this report as quickly as we can. The committee has a huge workload at the moment. We have a lot of legislation coming through on housing and on various other matters with which we must deal with, and which are equally important. However, we will do our best to get this report completed as soon as possible, to allow the Minister of State to go to the next stage of the legislation and to produce the electoral reform Bill. I thank the Minister of State.

There is a minute left if he would like to make a few closing remarks, but I am conscious that he has another engagement to get to.