Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We all have different experiences in the electoral contests in which we participate. I must say I have never experienced any of the challenges Senator Fitzpatrick has raised. I am not in any way suggesting her experience is not valid. I would hate for there to be a suggestion that there is a widespread problem with the competence and ability of people in polling stations. I have fought a lot of elections. I have lost far more than I won since I returned to Dublin in 2006. I have nothing but the highest regard for those who staff the polling stations. Often they are school teachers and principals. That was my experience in Dublin Mid-West and in Dún Laoghaire. Often, the people who provide the ballots and check IDs have years of experience because it is a day's work. They are often people in the public or private sector. It is something they do every year. I am not saying there should not be proper checks and qualifications, etc., but in my decade of electioneering in the South - I also had a decade of electioneering in the North - I have never experienced any of those problems. I am not dismissing it but I would argue that many of the people I come across in polling stations are eminently overqualified, taking a full day out of their work and doing the job they do, not necessarily for the money but because they believe it is a civic duty and it is important. I wish to make that observation.

To go back to the European Commission, the clarifications were very helpful. It would be helpful for the committee to get some of the substance of what has been going on. I know some of the communications are confidential and there is a certain degree of sensitivity around them. I am not asking for that to be breached. My understanding from the European Commission's position last year, with respect to Part 4, was that there were concerns around the criminal liability aspects being applied to online platforms. With respect to Part 5, it was to do with the information thresholds that would be required to impose those sanctions. This is related to the e-commerce directive. From the outside, it looks like it thought we were placing too onerous a responsibility on platforms both in information and liability and, therefore, the trajectory may be a weakening of the provisions of the Act. Can the Department provide additional information about the detail of those conversations or where it is going? It is an important matter. I do not necessarily share as many of the concerns as other members. There are things that make me angry that are damn real. Homelessness makes me angry. I know that is not what was suggested but when we think about regulation of speech and claims in elections, we must also be mindful that there is a fine line between the cut and thrust of any election campaign ever fought and deliberate disinformation in campaigns.

Senator Fitzpatrick and I slug it out on TV and radio stations accusing each other of giving out misinformation regularly, but it could also be that both of us have passionately conflicting views on a particular matter, and let us be honest about it. At the same time, it is still important for this committee, which is a public forum, to get some sense of the toing and froing between the Department and the Commission and where it is likely to land, inasmuch as Mr. Ryan can share that with us.