Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach and apologise for the confusion. I thought the session was on at 4 p.m. so was not organised when we went straight into it.

This amendment is the same as those we tabled on Committee Stage. At that time, the Minister said she would get some sort of legal briefing and feedback on that amendment. We had the Electoral Reform Bill then, so we kicked the same conversation to that Bill. It seems like no one wants to take responsibility for looking at the issue of political purposes within the legislation.

As drafted, there is no reference to, and therefore no definition of, "political purposes". The Bill makes reference to section 46M and the prohibition on advertising which is directed to a political end but, as I stressed previously, what constitutes a political end is unclear and can capture a huge amount of everyday advocacy and activism if put in legislation without definition. The term is vague, is an unusual one to be included in legislation and risks preventing a broadcaster or digital service provider from sharing information which is in the public interest through advertisements. While existing legislation curtails political advertising, the provision as drafted in the Bill could be misinterpreted to such an extent that important political issues would be conflated with the content of political advertisements.In response to the concerns I have highlighted, amendment No. 79 seeks to delete the term "political end" from the Bill and to substitute it with "political purposes". Amendments Nos. 1 and 83 separately provide definitions for the term "political purposes" in the legislation in circumstances where amendment No. 79 is accepted by the Minister. Our conduct with respect to fundraising as politicians is regulated in the context of the Electoral Acts, but a significant flaw exists in the wording of "political purposes" in the Electoral Acts which means that our laws do not fairly distinguish between the regulation of campaigns of politicians and how we treat the normal, everyday advocacy-led and community-led campaigning throughout the country. We must ensure that this same anomaly is not replicated in this legislative measure and that is why the definition is provided for through amendments Nos. 1 and 83.

During the course of our engagement with the Minister on this over the past number of months it was noted that a separate legislative measure, the Electoral Reform Bill, might be a more appropriate channel in which to address this concern. Unfortunately, however, despite our best efforts, amendments to the definition of "political purposes" were not accepted during our engagements with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Noonan, on the Electoral Reform Bill, the rationale being that a wider review of the Electoral Acts is proposed to be undertaken shortly by the soon to be established electoral commission. In light of this, will the Minister be able to accept this suite of amendments in the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill? As I have stressed, the provision in the Bill as drafted is too vague and risks important political issues.

We have spent a great deal of time recently trying to address the unintended consequences of the term "political purposes" in previous legislation only to have this Bill further muddy the water in terms of vague phrases such as "political end". I urge the Minister to have regard for this concern in this respect and accept the amendments. I hope she can see that for this Bill to go forward without a real understanding of "political purposes" when it intersects so much with what the rest of the Bill does in terms of regulation of media and advertising, it would be unwise to have a term such as "political end" without a definition in the Bill.