Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I did not have the opportunity this week to express my sadness at the death of Monica Barnes, former Deputy and Member of this House. I was a great admirer of hers and was delighted to welcome her on what was probably her last visit to Leinster House on 1 February to launch our Vótáil 100 programme along with other former women Members of the Oireachtas. She was a great campaigner and ally on many feminist and women's rights issues. I know we will have another occasion to pay tribute to her.

I also echo what others have said about the need for accountability in respect of the CervicalCheck story which seems to get progressively worse. I also offer my sympathy to Emma Mhic Mathúna on her recent diagnosis, having heard her most powerful and moving interview.It was utterly tragic news for her and her family to receive and I am sure we all empathise with them today.

I also support Senator Lynn Ruane's request for a debate after the referendum on necessary electoral reforms. I express my strong welcome for the announcement this week by Google that it would stop hosting all advertisements related to the referendum and hope Facebook will follow suit. What we were seeing in the widespread buying of advertising by a particular side was an attempt to manipulate the outcome of the referendum. As others said, we saw extensive use of social media manipulation in the Brexit referendum and the election campaign of President Donald Trump. There are huge concerns surrounding the use of data by Cambridge Analytica and others. I commend Senator Alice-Mary Higgins and other members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment for bringing up this issue, inviting representatives of Facebook and Google to appear before the committee and really pushing for change in this area. I really welcome that change which will see a fairer process in the remaining 15 days of the referendum campaign.

Like Senator Lynn Ruane, I would like to see more extensive reform beyond the regulation of social media and digital advertising, which clearly is needed. We need to see the reforms the Senator mentioned, including greater powers for the Referendum Commission and the Standards in Public Office Commission. We also need more extensive provision for postal voting and a less cumbersome application process to participate in postal voting and for late registration. There are two areas in which we have really fallen down as legislators in regulation, one of which is regulation of the content of posters which has become a huge issue in the referendum campaign. We are all being inundated with queries from constituents and others who are concerned about lies and misrepresentations on posters. Clearly, a body, either the Referendum Commission or a permanent electoral commission, should be empowered to take and address complaints, if necessary. We also need to impose a spending cap in referendum campaigns. There is a cap in every other type of election campaign but not for referendum campaigns. The absence of a cap facilitates the undermining of the democratic process, whereby one side can outspend another. We must look very carefully at the regulation needed to make our election and referendum processes fairer and more democratic in the future.

I inform colleagues that we heard very powerful testimony this morning at the meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade and Defence from Dr. Annie Sparrow, a paediatrician who has worked extensively in Syria. She elaborated on the appalling ongoing humanitarian crisis in that country, particularly for children, with whom she has been working. She has been trying to stem the outbreaks of polio in Syria as a result of the catastrophic war that has been ongoing for the past seven years. I was encouraged and motivated by her presentation to try to renew a cross-party motion on Syria. The Leader has been very helpful in that regard. I have also received support from all colleagues, with the unfortunate exception of Sinn Féin Senators. I hope that this time we will see support from Sinn Féin for an all-party motion on Syria condemning the appalling atrocities being committed against civilians.