Results 2,821-2,840 of 3,479 for speaker:Emer Higgins
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: My questions have really been asked by Senator Fitzpatrick. I am just wondering how this will work from a practical perspective. Is someone allowed to be both a witness and a member of a committee? Is Deputy Ó Broin planning to act in both capacities or will he recuse himself as a member of the committee for the purpose of today's meeting?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: When I watched the Cambridge Analytica story unfold, I watched it with horror. Normal politicians did. Today, I would like to find out whether Sinn Féin watched it unfold and wondered how it could use that strategy for its political gain. I had intended to put a number of questions to the general secretary of that party, but instead they selected a politician to give political answers...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: So, no software was used to put the information from the marked register onto the Abú system.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: When the Deputy says "cross-reference", they are updating their Abú system with that detail.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: Is Abú available to employees or to the party's army of volunteers also?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: Is it freely searchable?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: In that you could go in and use the data, and use a search engine within the data.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: Is it possible for Deputy Ó Broin to screen-share that with us without sharing any of the data it contains?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: Was Abú used during the Dublin Mid-West by-election in 2019?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: It was used in the general election 2020 as well, I assume.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: Did Sinn Féin microtarget voters in Clondalkin and Lucan in 2019 using the Abú system?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: When Sinn Féin does advertise online, does it use custom lists to do so?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: Does Sinn Féin use any data used in conjunction with the electoral register to target voters?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: Does Sinn Féin use data brokers to understand the more personalised information?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: No, okay. Yesterday, I got my subject access request from Sinn Féin headquarters, and it had a category marked “interactions”. What interactions is Sinn Féin recording?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: That is perfect, so they do not include information, for example, from social media comments.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: Sinn Féin does not use the electoral register as a database for online activity.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: There was also a column entitled "Other". What type of data is recorded in that column?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: Okay. I notice that one of Sinn Féin's recent advertisements has 17 different versions. Does Sinn Féin engage in AB testing through social media adverts and, if so, how does it store the reaction to the adverts?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: General Scheme of the Electoral Reform Bil 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (20 May 2021)
Emer Higgins: I thank Deputy Ó Broin for answering all the questions. To clarify, when he speaks about the Abú system and it being cross referenced with the marked register, I note that in my own subject access request, SAR, the party was able to tell me whether or not I voted in elections. Is he saying that is done manually by someone sitting down with a marked register and literally...