Today we saw Google's announcement that it would stop accepting all advertisements relating to the eighth amendment in order, as it said, to protect the integrity of the process. This follows Facebook's announcement that it will only accept advertisements from Ireland on its platform, although this will simply mean that linked organisations will be exposed in Ireland and organisations will have to register here and may then continue to advertise.

There are no spending limits in respect of the referendum anyway, so it will make little real difference. However, it is imperative that we as politicians act to regulate the information included on posters and in online advertisements to ensure that the information given out to the public is based on facts and not on outright lies, myths or emotive untruths. We have all seen cases around the country where posters have been placed near schools and outside churches. These posters use imagery and information that is clearly wrong, that cannot be checked and that is not verifiable at all. We must act to ensure that the use of such posters cannot continue. It is vitally important for both sides of the campaign, the yes side and the no side, to put out accurate images and information in order that people can make a decision based on what they feel themselves.

We have seen the posters held up outside the hospitals. We have seen all that. We have seen the fake statistics and factually incorrect responses that also have been used in respect of the campaign. This is all wrong. These are things on which we can act and make a decision. The announcements from Google and Facebook are welcome but we can also be proactive and ensure that posters carry respectful images and images which will sway the argument one way or the other rather than those which are just used as a shock tactic. That is vitally important. I know it is probably too late to do it for this campaign, but what are the Taoiseach's plans to do this in order to ensure that referendum campaigns will be carried out in a proper manner and that proper images will be used on posters? This is something which we in this House can directly control. We do not have to rely on Facebook or Google or anybody else to do it for us.

First, I join with others in welcoming the decision taken by Facebook not to allow advertisements relating to the referendum that are paid for by foreign bodies or foreign entities. That is a welcome measure on its part. While Google has gone a bit further and is not accepting advertisements to do with the referendum altogether, I think Facebook has made the right decision to not accept advertisements paid for by bodies from other countries. Whether advertisements are for a yes vote or a no vote, we all hold by the principle that foreign money should not be used to influence elections and referendums in this country. The decision Facebook has made in that regard is very welcome. Perhaps it could have come sooner but it has come and is very welcome.

I share Deputy Pringle's concerns about some of the posters we have seen around the country, some of which are extraordinarily inaccurate in the claims made on them and some of which are, frankly, quite grotesque. I have often spoken to parents on the campaign trail whose children have asked them to explain the images on the posters and what the posters mean. For people who purport to be concerned about children, putting parents in a position where they have to explain these things to children based on the images on the posters says a lot about their true motivations and hearts.

It has never been the case in Ireland that we have regulated people's posters. If we were to regulate people's posters we might also argue in favour of regulating literature because the same kind of images that appear on posters can also be put on literature put through doors. We need some consideration of the issue, perhaps on an all-party basis, but it would be a big move to give any authority to ourselves, or even to an electoral commission or referendum commission when established, to decide what sorts of posters and literature are allowed and what sorts are not. It could start from very good intentions but move on to become a restriction on democracy and freedom of speech. If we do anything like that we would need to do it on an all-party basis. Perhaps the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government, which covers electoral matters, could give some consideration to the issue after this referendum.

I thank the Taoiseach for his response. I note there is already regulation of posters in certain areas in this country. For example, Dublin City Council regulates politicians' posters. They have to be submitted to Dublin City Council so that it can have a look at them. It then decides whether they can be put up or not. They cannot be offensive or anything else like that.

It is possible to regulate posters and this begs the question as to why the posters in question have not been regulated. That may be a separate question. It is not enough, however, to share the annoyance and upset of people in respect of this issue. It has to be addressed. Doing so is vital.

The matter is probably more stark in the run-up to the forthcoming referendum. It is a referendum campaign that is dividing people and generating strong opinions on both sides. That is different from what happens during most elections. In most elections, our faces are on the posters. People might find them offensive but that is a different story. We really should be capable of dealing with the images used on posters. If Facebook and Google can do it in respect online patterns, why can we not do it with postering in this country?

I was not aware that Dublin City Council had a role in regulating which posters may be put up and which may not. My local authority in Fingal requires that permission be obtained if one wants to put up a poster advertising a public meeting or such an event outside election time. I had thought it was different during election and referendum campaigns, however, and that all local authorities can do is prescribe where posters could not be located, as on roundabouts or in locations where they obscure road signs. Regulating where posters may be placed for reasons of road safety is different from regulating the content of posters, be it the words or images. This is not something we can resolve over the next couple weeks. We could definitely ask the committee to examine it, however. I will certainly ask the Minister of State with responsibility for local government and electoral reform, Deputy Phelan, to determine, after the referendum, what measures could be put in place for future contests.