‘I didn’t lobby online firms’ – Leo
THE Taoiseach has refuted claims from pro-life TD Mattie McGrath that he lobbied social media and internet giants to be stricter on advertisements on the abortion referendum.
Last week, it was confirmed Google would ban all ads relating to the Eighth Amendment ahead of next week’s referendum, while Facebook confirmed it would ban all foreign ads for the campaign.
Yesterday, Independent TD Mr McGrath said that while it is ‘very important’ to know who paid for political adverts, he had to question who asked the social media giants to block political ads.
‘I wonder who prompted them. I’ve a fair idea,’ he said while speaking on RTÉ’s The Week In Politics programme. Host Aine Lawlor challenged him to clarify what he meant. ‘We know there was visits to the Taoiseach himself, from certain companies since he became Taoiseach,’ Mr McGrath responded.
Last night, a spokesman for Leo Varadkar said the claim is ‘totally untrue’. Arts Minister Josepha Madigan, who was appearing alongside the Tipperary TD on the panel when he made the remark, said it was a ‘strong allegation’ and that she ‘absolutely’ denied it.
She added: ‘The corporations made these decisions, quite rightly, by themselves and we welcome them overall.’ Mr McGrath said he didn’t have specific information on contacts between Mr Varadkar and the companies, RTÉ reported.
RTÉ also reported last night that Mr McGrath said he has questions he’ll be putting to the Taoiseach in the Dáil, ‘on who [Mr Varadkar] visited, who he met and to what purpose – and has he an open line of communication to some of these powerful headquarters of these high-tech companies’.
Facebook denied its decision to ban certain advertising on the Eighth was as a result of lobbying by the Taoiseach or any other parties involved in the referendum campaign. A spokeswoman for Facebook Ireland said the company had no discussions with any politicians about the matter and that it decided to ban Eighth Amendment ads ‘in the absence of regulations’ about foreign donations to Irish referendums.