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

I do not know if the Taoiseach's party or other parties have had a similar experience to my party in regard to online advertising for the European Parliament and local election campaigns. It has been chaotic. The authorisation, approval and oversight process is far from satisfactory.

I looked atwww.facebook.com/ads/library,where one is supposed to be able to get a sense of how much different parties are spending. The Taoiseach's party has apparently spent under €10,000 so far in this campaign but to be honest, it is as clear as mud as to what is happening with online advertising. We should not rely on Facebook to regulate our online advertising, which is central to our democratic institutions. How many elections will be allowed to pass before we put in place regulations for full transparency for all online advertising ourselves? When will that change? The current system is chaotic. It is not transparent and it is not democratic so it needs to change. When does the Government intend to introduce such regulations or could we, as a House, organise that collectively?

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