Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I think the Deputy's points are very valid. In my case, it was fake advertising encouraging people to get involved in a cryptocurrency company and they can become a millionaire. I was described as a millionaire, which I am not. I caught the one on X, there was one on Google and there was a series on X that was more refined. There was the Irish Independent and a journalist from the Irish Independent and for all intents and purposes it was an article in the Irish Independent. What disturbed me more was that the companies do not respond at all. They suggest one has to go to the courts to get a court order to find out who is behind the ads. When the information is received from the company, forensic people are required to try to sift through the material and identify the source of the information.

The disturbing aspect of this is that it is part of the revenue model of these companies. Legally, the Government could do something in respect of an obligation on the companies rather than requiring citizens to go to the courts to find out who is behind fake ads. They are defamatory and can undermine a person's character and ability, and they can also lure unsuspecting citizens into losing money or investing in something that is fraudulent. The Electoral Commission must develop capacity to deal with it because this could get much worse, in terms of the sophistication of how various political people could be undermined in the course of an election campaign with very little recourse during the campaign.