Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach agus le gach Seanadóir a ghlac páirt sa díospóireacht thábhachtach seo ar Bille an-tábhachtach, agus go háirithe na Seanadóirí Fitzpatrick agus Cummins, mar bhaill den choiste, as ucht a gcuid oibre. I thank the Senators for their contribution to the debates. I was not here for the first part. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, was here but I was watching contributions on the screen in the office.

This Bill represents a fundamental reform of our electoral legislation and how we operate the electoral process within our system. It is a once-in-a-generation piece of legislation and a fundamental change that has been long overdue. The Bill will provide the upgrading of the apparatus of how we run our election system but also provide much needed accessibility, greater integrity and much greater transparency within our electoral process in a changing.

I thank all Senators for their supportive and contributions to the debate. There have been many contributions made here, with sensible suggestions and points of view brought forward that we will be able to tease out further on Committee Stage. I would like to return to the core elements of the legislation. Importantly, it will provide for an independent electoral commission which will bring together a range of electoral functions under one roof. It will be positioned in a regulatory space. It will take a high-level view of our electoral system and steer its evolution.

The Bill, as I mentioned, will provide a much greater level of accessibility, greater integrity for our electoral processes, and much greater transparency about those who stand for elections, parties that run for election and the process of it. This modernisation process will take better account of modern realities such as access to technology, a more mobile population and greater understanding of issues that different people face in exercising their rights. I, as Minister, and the Government want to ensure that people are not hindered from exercising their electoral rights and we want more people involved in our electoral process.

We have tried, through this process, to take on board a great deal of work that has been done by many groups and, indeed, by many politicians, many of whom are in this House, to look at how we can move this forward and realise a firm commitment within the programme for Government to modernise and protect our democracy. That has been a comment that has been used loosely in the past about protecting democracy, and maybe used in a glib way too, but look at what has happened to our nearest neighbour. Look at the interference that happened during the Brexit referendum. Look at what we know happened in the US election. These things happen. There has been interference in other democracies by outside actors. We do not have the luxury of assuming that will not happen here or, indeed, that it does not happen here. That is why the area of online advertising and how online interacts with our electoral process is important.

The Bill provides for the compulsory labelling of paid online political advertisements during electoral periods. This will help to ensure transparency in the run up to elections and referendums and ensure that our elections remain free from hidden influences on how we vote. All of us would want that.

It strengthens our political donations and accounts regulation, giving SIPO more regulatory and new enforcement powers.

The Bill makes prudent provisions to assist with holding electoral events during a pandemic, which we hope never to see again.

The Bill will bring about, as Senator Kyne mentioned, same-day island voting, recognising that in the modern era we have the facilities to allow that all polling stations open on the same day.

It brings clarity to fund-raising. It brings clarity to the use of draws and lotteries by political parties as a legitimate part of their fund-raising activities. I would like to restate that all contributions received in these are classified as political donations, and are subject to existing regulations.Senator Buttimer raised a number of issues regarding the membership of the commission that I want to address. Section 9 set sout the recommendations for appointment of ordinary members of the commission. Section 9(4) states:

Where making recommendations of persons who are suitable for appointment as ordinary members of the Commission under this section, the Service shall have regard to the desirability of the members of the Commission possessing knowledge of, and experience in, matters connected with the following: (a) electoral matters, including any experience or expertise gained as a former member of the Houses of the Oireachtas or a local authority;

There are many instances in which boards and agencies have been set up and for some reason those who were elected and who served the State as a public representative have been precluded from being members. That will not happen in this instance. The process will be open. People will apply to serve on the commission and specific criteria will apply. No former public representative, either at local government or national level, will be excluded.

I am not going to get into a back and forth argument on political fundraising. We all have our own views on that but I want to be very clear on the lottery piece. The amendment was introduced on Report Stage in the Dáil. It is intended to provide that registered political parties may apply to the District Court for a licence to run periodic lotteries to support their legitimate fundraising activities. There is no secret in that. For the avoidance of doubt, these provisions are intended to provide that any lotteries operated by any political party, whether referred to as draws, raffles, sweepstakes or otherwise, can continue to be run subject to the requirements under the new Part 8. As was mentioned earlier, political parties engage in legitimate fundraising to run elections. The alternative is that the taxpayer provides such funds, which I do not support. I would not support a situation where the Exchequer would support every political party and cover all of their expenses at election time. What is being done here is very clear. It is a transparent and open process, brought forward in legislation in the Dáil and brought into the Seanad to be debated. I assume Members will accept that amendment.

We could go into a lot of other matters around political fundraising but I am not going to do so now. That was done last week in the Dáil and people can make up their own minds on the transparency of political parties, their fundraising activities and where they source their funds. I want to look forward on this. I want to put a permanent electoral commission in place that will manage our elections and referenda and that will ensure misinformation is called out and that our elections are protected as much as possible from outside actors who wish to damage our democracy and who wish to be able to influence the outcome of elections here in a certain way, by force of funds from abroad, for certain political reasons. We know very well that states do this, including Russia, which has been engaged in a brutal invasion of Ukraine that we all condemn. We all know of the Russian influence on elections on our doorstep and that is not something we should countenance. We must being forward every possible measure to protect our electoral system.

In fairness, when this legislation passes, and I thank all Members for their support for it, we will be an exemplar in Europe with our electoral commission, particularly in the context of the online space. The Bill attempts to make sure that the information our people get is correct and where it is not correct or is being used for another campaign in the background, that is called out. This is about protecting our democracy and our electoral system and is a very important step forward.

I acknowledge Senator Byrne's contribution on the educational function of the commission and the different subgroups that the commission can set up. I hope we can explore that more on Committee Stage. The commission needs to be resourced appropriately to carry out the functions it is given. Once we pass the legislation before the summer recess, we will move very quickly to the full establishment of the commission. It will then be responsible for the next Dáil boundary reviews. The census data will be available and there is a constitutional imperative to review the boundaries in the light of that data. I wish to confirm again that there will be no changes to the local electoral boundaries between now and the next local elections. Changes will be made to boundaries for Dáil and European elections once the census results are published.

We have taken a number of points that Senators raised about the register and about pre-registration on board, including those raised by Senator Warfield. He has worked on extending the franchise to those aged between 16 and 18. I am bringing forward a pre-registration process so that 16- to 18-year-olds are registered in advance of the election, which is a significant step forward but I would expect the commission to look in more detail at that. On votes for the diaspora in presidential elections, the relevant Bill has been returned to the Dáil Order Paper. It is under the remit of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

I thank Senators for their contributions and look forward to working with them on Committee Stage and moving this legislation, which is crucially important for our democracy here in the Republic, through the Houses.