Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As far as I am aware, the EU proposal was sent to this committee for consideration in December. Is that correct? There might be an opportunity for the committee to have a discussion on that at some point.

I take on board the points that all Deputies have made and there will be a review of Part 4 of the Bill after three years of it operating. I take the point that Deputies Cian O'Callaghan and Ó Broin have made about reaction in real time. I am not sure how the commission could play a role in that in the middle of an electoral event, which is the challenge. The ability of the commission to review electoral events afterwards and make recommendations is a strong and useful one. It is something that will help in the robustness of the political system and as Deputy Ó Broin has said, this whole space is shifting rapidly and we are consistently trying to catch up with it, which is something we have to be mindful of. On publication of the Bill, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, flagged a legislative proposal to protect the integrity of our electoral system and democratic process that has been developed by the Office of the Attorney General. That is something I was going to flag in my closing comments but it is an added element to consider.

I will specifically respond to amendment No. 74 before Deputy Ó Broin comes back in. Amendment No. 74 proposes to replace section 119, on public information requirements for online political advertisements under this Bill, with an alternative section, which would prohibit online political advertising. The amendment also proposes to oppose section 120 on obligations on online platforms regarding online political advertisements; section 121 on the identification and verification of buyers; and section 122 on the obligations on buyers regarding online political advertisements.

An interdepartmental group on the security of Ireland's electoral processes and disinformation was established in early 2018 to consider the substantive issues arising from experience in other democratic countries, having regard to the use of social media by external, anonymous or hidden third parties. Its principal focus was on the risks to the electoral processes, including those arising from disinformation spread via social media and other means. The interdepartmental group was chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach. Its membership included representatives from the franchise section of our Department and the then Departments of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Defence, Education and Skills, Foreign Affairs and Trade, Justice and Equality and Public Expenditure and Reform, as well as from the Defence Forces, An Garda Síochána and the national cybersecurity centre. The first report from the group was submitted to the Government in July 2018.

Overall, the assessment found that risks to the electoral process in Ireland are relatively low, taking into account the mitigating factors that are already in place. It was recognised that the spread of disinformation online and the risk of cyberattacks on the electoral system pose more substantial risks. That is in line with EU findings and recent international experience. The report's recommendations included a commitment to regulate for transparency in online political advertising. In this context, a public consultation was announced on 21 September 2018 and a discussion paper that outlined the issues and challenges involved in regulating online political advertising was published as part of the consultative process. A total of 15 submissions were received by the closing date of 19 October 2018. The public consultation was followed by an open policy form on the regulation of transparency in online political advertising, held in Dublin Castle in 2018. The forum was attended by a wide range of representatives from media and political spheres, online companies and the European Commission. A broad consensus emerged from the forum that there was a need to regulate online political advertisements during electoral periods.

The European Commission has published its Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transparency and targeting of political advertising on 25 November 2021. Similar to the provisions in Part 4 of the Bill, the Commission proposal does not propose to prohibit political advertising in any media for reasons that are similar to those I set out earlier. Indeed, the Commission proposal envisages the introduction of a transparency regime across all forms of advertising media that is broadly reflective of that being introduced under Part 4 in respect of online political advertising. Given the very detailed provisions that we are introducing under Part 4, we will not accept this amendment.