Ireland’s new political integrity laws will call the shots this time around in shutting down the use of cryptocurrencies as donations to support political parties. The country drafted the laws to address the concerns about foreign interventions targeted at interfering with politics. The country has placed the ban and hopes it will help stop the interference that has been witnessed before.
Working on amendments
Minister Darragh O’Brien proposed several amendments that he hoped would govern matters such as misinformation, donations, and other crucial transparency requirements affecting political parties. Rumors have also been moving around about Russia’s plan to interfere in the country’s elections.
On Monday, O’Brien spoke about what he hoped the laws would help the country achieve. He opined that the laws would effectively safeguard Ireland’s democratic system. He spoke elaborately about the escalating threat of cyber warfare and disclosed information about how free countries have been falling victim to such activities. O’Brien says that there is an Electoral Commission that the country put in place recently that will play a massive role in overseeing compliance with the laws.
Ireland cannot spell out the monetary amount of political donations or even the percentages if asked to outline what goes to the political parties. Some of the donations went to individuals in the form of crypto, and the country can’t point to a particular figure.
O’Brien’s take
Minister O’Brien hasn’t said anything about the amounts, and efforts to re ah him proved futile. The Public Office Commission hasn’t also commented on the amount. Back in January 2022, O’Brien embarked on a campaign that sought to reform the laws. He put together a task force of legal experts and political scientists to investigate the new election laws. The leader speaks about how he kept bumping into concerns regarding the possibility of Russia interfering with their election. He needed to make a move because it was hard to tell what the Russia-Ukraine war would culminate in the long run.
The task force expressed its stand on the matter. It spoke about the various measures that needed to be put in place to establish a “legal and digital bulwark” to guard against election interference.
