Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

This is an area that needs a lot more attention and I welcome that the amendment has been brought forward in that spirit. With online political activity, an audience is built up over time. A lot of that is done by the parties with resources and that includes anyone who is elected, such as a Deputy or another office holder. They have the resources to be able to build up followers and audiences between elections and that is probably the biggest advantage they have. There is a legitimate argument that people without those resources being able to do some online advertising can be a counterbalance and that needs to be considered.

When we were looking at this in the committee we got strong input from people with expertise saying they did not want a situation where after an election, such as the next election or another one, everyone in the country would be talking about what happened with online campaigning, how that influenced the outcome of the election, how we did not have safeguards in place and how the election was influenced by external forces or whatever. It would be damaging to confidence in the democratic system if that happened. I urge that this area gets sufficient attention and that should happen before the election. The point Deputy Ó Broin made is that they were arguing that the commission needs to be able to react in real time. If something is happening during an election campaign that most people would consider as out of order and having an undue influence on an election, it must have powers or the ability to take measures then. It is no good having a review after the election and learning some lessons at that point if people can see that there are things that need to be reacted to immediately.

I am not sure that this blunt measure is sufficient but I accept that in the absence of other measures, a blunt one like this has a certain attraction. What is needed would probably be a much more detailed way of regulating this rather than an outright ban. I tend to reach for outright bans on things from time to time but in most cases taking a more nuanced and regulated approach is the correct one. Failing that, if we have no other options then an outright ban might be the best thing to do but it will not capture a lot of it and it will not counterbalance the issue of the resources that people build up between elections, which puts them at an advantage over newer candidates.