There are contrasting views today among public elected representatives in the northwest when it comes to the fallout from revelations that political parties have engaged in using fake poling representatives to obtain voters’ views.
The controversy over fake poling representatives continues to rumble on into its second day, yesterday when it emerged that Sinn Fein was involved in this practice, Sligo Leitrim Fianna Fáil TD Marc MacSharry claimed that certain political standards had to be adhered to and called for a Garda investigation into the incident.
You could be forgiven for thinking that the Sligo TD backed himself into a corner when it emerged this morning that his own party along with Fine Gael and the Green also using party members to pose as market researchers to gauge the opinions of voters in the past.
In response to the latest development, Marc MacSharry called for any of his own party members guilty of such a practice to resign.
Fianna Fail claim that the strategy ended around 2007 however this has not done anything to ease Deputy’s MacSharry’s anger:
Many experienced political observers are calling describing this incident as ‘a storm in a teacup’ It’ a distraction the Taoiseach could do without, Michael Martin says the polling controversy was wrong and shouldn’t have happened.
Sinn Fein’s Martin Kenny is the Party’s Justice and Equality spokesperson. Just like Deputy MacSharry, he is also a Sligo Leitrim public elected representative, He felt that Deputy MacSharry’s calls for a Garda investigation into Sinn Fein in relation to the incident was a major overreaction
It has emerged today that the Data Protection Commissioner has already contacted Sinn Féin about the matter.
Deputy Kenny explains why political parties would explain in this practice:
Deputy Kenny feels the practice of using party members to pose as market researchers is not in violation of any laws:
