Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am referring to sections 38 and 39 of the Bill and amendments Nos. 33 and 34. There is real concern that a very sweeping interpretation of public interest has been proposed, which effectively states that any electoral activity on the part of any party, candidate or Member of the House is in the public interest and therefore bypasses any need for consent. There is some clarification in that it is proposed to include the dissemination of information, including information as to a person's activity and policies that might reasonably be of interest to electors. It does not, however, exclude anything.

I am very concerned and I would like a response from the Minister of State on the proposals to ensure that we do not have a situation whereby private companies can build political profiles of individuals in the State and be hired by or exchange that information with individuals who are considered specified persons and then use that as a context to carry out data harvesting or micro-targeting. Let us be realistic about it. We know that one company was reported in the newspapers just a few weeks ago as having used the period in advance of the GDPR to build databases and political profiles of Irish citizens. It has had the aggressive and very expensive promotion of quizzes about one's political views for Irish citizens. It informs us, on its website, that it has 93,000 political profiles of Irish citizens which are effectively available for purchase and use. What is in this Bill to stop an actor in Ireland from hiring this company, accessing those 93,000 political profiles and arranging for a barrage of micro-targeted messages using the exemptions granted in this section? What are the protections relating to such measures? Where is it said that certain activities are not considered to be electoral activities within the public interest remit? There is no nuance here.

I am concerned. I have flagged these interests. I was more assured when it left the Seanad because at that point the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, had indicated that he believed that any activities would have to be conducted directly by a member or candidate of a political party. With this new, wide interpretation, I do not see where the protections are for individuals. I respect electoral activity and cherish the engagement that we have with our constituencies. I want us to engage in active, engaged campaigning. I also realise, however, that we bring in rules and regulations in this area for a reason and that Article 9 recognised political opinion as an area of sensitivity for a reason. I am worried that we have sought in effect to ensure that political activity evades the protections accorded to the political opinion of individuals. Will the Minister of State address these concerns?