Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy Lawless on bringing forward this Bill, which seeks to deal with an important issue that is very worthy of debate. However, I join my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Naughten, in recommending that these proposals be opposed on the basis that they are likely to have a number of serious unintended consequences. The issues we are discussing this evening are undoubtedly of grave concern. The idea that nation states are engaging in active subterfuge by orchestrating false political campaigns is a serious and ongoing threat to our democracy. While I acknowledge the effort in this Bill to address these concerns, there is an incoherence of approach in its provisions. In particular, there are insurmountable challenges in how the Bill deals with issues of implementation.

Accepting these proposals would pose a very real threat to the open and free political discourse that is so central to the Irish political process. On the European stage as well as at home, Ireland has consistently promoted an open, peaceful, global, free and secure cyberspace, where fundamental rights and freedoms such as the right to freedom of expression, access to information, privacy and security on the Internet, and data protection, are fully applied and respected. The requirement to determine and define what constitutes a "political end" is an extremely difficult one. The Bill leaves the question of what is or is not political to the online platform selling the advertising and makes no provision for any governance mechanism in this regard. The obligation to ensure a transparency notice is displayed on any online platform is placed clearly on the shoulders of that platform, as per subsection 3(1) of the Bill. This would be extremely difficult to implement in practice given that many online platforms are based outside the State and identifying the owner of an account on social media is not easily done. In addition, the majority of online advertising is placed by third parties rather than the online platforms themselves, the latter being merely a stage for others to disseminate advertising information. This is the mere conduit principle referred to by the Minister, Deputy Naughten. Consequently, political advertisements produced in other jurisdictions would not fall under the provisions of the Bill.

Reference was made to the activities of bots on online platforms, which has recently come to public attention as a serious problem. Section 6 of the Bill seeks to address this issue without properly engaging with it. The idea that we can track down bots and prosecute the persons or organisations behind them ignores the reality that if the person running the false accounts is based outside the State, as most of them are, then they will be beyond the scope of the Bill.

There were numerous references to the strategic communications unit, SCU, the purpose of which will be to streamline communications between Departments to enhance the delivery of Government campaigns. It will help us to produce clear, simple and citizen-focused communications, so that it is clear when the Government of Ireland is communicating or delivering a service. This will lead to more co-ordinated and cost-effective communications that will generate efficiencies and increased value for money. An internal audit of communications work across government found that more than €170 million is being spent annually on communications by Departments and the agencies under their remit. It is intended that the SCU will drive savings across all Departments over time through efficiencies generated by cross-departmental collaboration on major campaigns, more efficient use of technology platforms, consolidated media buying, efficient third-party contract management, rationalisation of design projects, streamlining of participation in national events and increased communications capacity within Departments.

For 2018, the budget of the Department of the Taoiseach will decrease by 2% compared with 2017. The SCU's budget of €5 million derives from a reallocation of existing resources within the Department's overall budget for next year. The vast bulk of this €5 million allocation is being earmarked for major cross-departmental information campaigns. These campaigns will include an allocation for media buying across all media platforms, both traditional and digital, which will maximise efficiency and value for money. The unit will carry out its work objectively and without bias and in accordance with the Civil Service code of standards and behaviour, published by the Standards in Public Office Commission, and the Civil Service values as delineated in the Civil Service renewal plan. All of the staff to be assigned are serving civil servants or public servants. This is designed to ensure political impartiality and that the unit is developed as a service that will be available to all future Governments regardless of their composition.

In the context of ongoing concerns about fake news, it is important that the Government should be able to get its message out. When hundreds of millions of euro are spent on the Luas upgrade, it is right that it be advertised as a Government of Ireland project. What is the difference between advertising the good works of Government, which come at a cost to taxpayers, and the services available to all Deputies and Senators to advertise themselves, such as the Houses of the Oireachtas printing service, which also are paid for by taxpayers? If we go too far along that line, we will end up in a position where no taxpayer spending is permitted to fund the important job we do in these Houses.

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