Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

At a committee hearing last week Google seemed to intimate that it had been concerned about a wave of finance to affect the result of the referendum. That may be why it made its call. I do not think the referendum was decided by online advertising but mainly in houses, on the streets and at doors and through the mainstream media. However, there is a real issue with transparency in referendum and election advertising. We have an opportunity to set a precedent and set the record straight on what exactly happened in the referendum. When its representatives came to the Oireachtas committee, we asked Facebook to provide detailed data for the value of advertising and how much money had been spent. My colleagues in the European Parliament asked the same questions when Mark Zuckerberg went to Brussels to answer questions. Facebook replied that it could not do so, that technically it would be difficult, although it was working on its tools to provide for such transparency. However, I believe it is possible for it to do so. It should sit down with the Transparent Referendum Initiative and the UCD Dynamics lab to work on the issue of how to manage the data. With proper safeguards in GDPR rules, Facebook should provide information for the public on the volume of advertising during the recent referendum campaign. This would allow us to close the book on the referendum, but it would also set a precedent. Yesterday we placed a motion on the Order Paper setting out those circumstances and asking Facebook and Google to sit down with UCD and the Transparent Referendum Initiative and provide the data sought.

Will the Tánaiste support such a call? Does he think it presents an opportunity? This is not controversial. Our referendum result was not a close call. It was a clear win, so it is an opportunity for the company and for us as a country to start setting some precedents and some basic ground rules around transparency in election advertising. Will the Tánaiste support such a call to Facebook and Google and does he think it will be of benefit? He is a foreign Minister. He sees lots going on around the world. Does he think such transparency in the democratic process will be useful?

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