1 April, 2024 – An Coimisiún Toghcháin, Ireland’s independent electoral commission has advised people to bring the same critical thinking that they use to dodge April Fool’s Day pranks today, to combatting false information about June’s upcoming elections.

An Coimisiún Toghcháin, as Ireland’s independent electoral commission has created three 30-second social media videos warning people to treat every day like April Fool’s Day, and featuring people being shown headlines that may or may not be true.

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Art O Leary, Chief Executive of An Coimisiún Toghcháin stated:

“There’s a day each year when each of us questions the headlines and is sceptical l of everything we hear and read — and that day is today, April Fool’s Day

“To fight false information during election campaigns we need to treat every day like it’s April 1 and to question what we see, what we hear and what we read, particularly online.”

“We are asking people whether today on April Fool’s Day or any day around elections, when you are being told something to ask yourself, who is telling me this; how do I know it’s true, and are there any other trusted sources?”

An Coimisiún is preparing for June’s Local, European, and Limerick Mayoral elections and its independent information campaign for the planned Referendum on the Unified Patent Court being held on the same date.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Brian Dawson, Communications and Public Engagement Manager, 

An Coimisiún Toghcháin, The Electoral Commission,

086 0749344 Brian.dawson@electoralcommission.ie 

– ENDS-

Editor’s Note:

An Coimisiún Toghcháin, The Electoral Commission

An Coimisiún Toghcháin is a statutory, independent body, established on 9 February 2023 with responsibility for a broad range of electoral functions set out in the Electoral Reform Act 2022. An Coimisiún is central to Ireland’s electoral system, carrying out a range of existing electoral functions, including:

• the decision-making, oversight, secretariat and supporting services associated with explaining the subject matter of referendum proposals, the promotion of public awareness of referendums and encouragement of the electorate to vote at referendum polls; and
• the conducting of reviews and making reports in relation to the constituencies for the election of members to the Dáil and the election of members to the European Parliament.
• responsibility for the registration of political parties.
• making reports for the Minister in relation to local electoral boundaries. 

An Coimisiún is also tasked with several new electoral roles, including:

• preparing research programmes and conducting research on electoral policy and procedure, and providing advice, as required, to the Minister and Government.
• promoting public awareness of, and working to increase public participation in the State’s electoral and democratic processes through education and information programmes;
• overseeing the modernised Electoral Register, making recommendations and setting standards in relation to its maintenance and updating;
• the regulation of online paid-for political advertising, ensuring transparency in respect of online political advertisements during the period of an election or referendum campaign; (Legislation not yet commenced)
• responsibility for the investigation and monitoring of online disinformation, online misinformation and manipulative or inauthentic behaviour online during election campaign periods, as well as functions to prevent manipulative or inauthentic behaviours online. (Legislation not yet commenced)
• the preparation of ex-post reports on the administration of electoral events.

It is anticipated that the initial set of functions assigned to An Coimisiún will be expanded upon as it builds capacity and expertise.