Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, but what was it? It was a professionally produced video made between Saturday and Sunday morning and put up on Facebook, with massive money pumped into it to ensure as many people in Ireland saw it and the good news story it showed. This happened in the space of a few hours between Saturday and Sunday and involved a massive amount of taxpayers' money. The Minister of State, Deputy Seán Kyne, is not getting a slice of the pie either. It is his senior ministerial colleagues from Fine Gael, and not including the Minister, Deputy Naughten, who are using and abusing taxpayers' money to promote themselves on Facebook videos to give a good impression. It is wrong, it should be illegal and, quite frankly, I think it is illegal. It is certainly unethical that taxpayers' money is used in this way. Deputy Lawless's Bill goes some way towards dealing with this and I think it should go further. The Government needs to accept the Bill and get to grips with the ways in which the world is changing. I urge the Government to stop spending taxpayers' money to promote itself. It is wrong.

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