The head of the electoral commission - An Coimisiún Toghcháin - has called on voters to treat every day like "April Fools' Day", during election campaigns.
Appearing before the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs, the commission's Chief Executive Art O'Leary spoke of the need to be vigilant of disinformation ahead of the local and European elections.
He cited research from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, which identified online electoral disinformation between 2016 and 2021 in 92% of 53 countries.
"Although Ireland was not a specific focus of this particular research there is now reason to think Ireland would be uniquely exempt from such activity," he told members.
Politicians heard that the commission has been tasked with regulating political advertising online, along with online misinformation and disinformation during campaign periods. However, legislation to give the organisation the power to do this has not yet been enacted.
The commission is currently running a "quirky, light hearted" ad campaign, to communicate the importance of casting your vote, he told politicians.
He told Senator Lisa Chambers that the advertisement was running to spread the message that "if you don't register to vote and vote then somebody else speaks for you".
"If you don't like [the ads], then they're not aimed at you", Art O'Leary told members, adding that some people were not happy with the new approach.
Around 200,000 people have checked the electoral register, with around half of those being first time voters, members heard.
There's approximately 25 people working in the commission at present, with an intention to double that number by the end of the year.
For the first time people in Limerick will vote for a directly elected mayor.
Mr O'Leary told members that efforts will be made to engage with voters there through local media and other methods to make them aware of the importance of voting.
"Let's go and have some fun in Limerick, I'm not sure whether those words were ever said at an Oireachtas Committee before", he quipped.
