Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I too welcome the publication of the report in July. While it finds that there is a low risk of cyberattacks or disinformation online in this jurisdiction, we cannot be complacent and must put measures in place when we face elections. While I understand a reluctance to proceed very overtly in the course of a presidential election, I ask the Taoiseach if he intends to follow the recommendation to regulate online advertising in place before next year's local and European elections. If that is the deadline, it is a tight one if there is to be a consultation before the end of the year, draft heads of a Bill and a clear delineation of rules well in advance of a May election. It would be naive to think there are not some elements who would like to interfere with our electoral processes in an unauthorised way. We are not so irrelevant that it would not take place.

The register of electors is a source of frustration in every single election as we always come across those who have simply disappeared off it. People who have lived in the same houses for years on end and never moved find suddenly that they have been removed when they go to vote. They do not check because they assume they do not need to having always been on the register. While we exhort people to check the online register, we need a more robust system in place to ensure we facilitate those who want to vote. That is obviously contingent on proper safeguards. A permanent electoral commission is the solution to that. We have talked about it for a long time and we need to establish one.

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