Press release from The Iona Institute 

Would it be acceptable for Twitter to call on Irish people to vote for a particular party?

Multinational corporations should avoid commenting on Irish politics, the Iona Institute said in a statement today criticising the call made by Twitter and other tech companies for Yes vote in the upcoming marriage referendum.

At an event attended by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, Twitter Ireland’s Managing Director Stephen McIntyre claimed that a No vote would be bad for Ireland’s international reputation.

In response, Iona spokesperson Ben Conroy said “I wonder if Mr Kenny would be so keen about multinationals getting involved in Irish politics if they were endorsing particular political parties?

“I think a lot of eybrows would be raised if Twitter said ‘vote for Renua, it’s good for business’ and threatened that voting for another party could somehow hurt our international reputation.

“Twitter’s clear implication is that if we vote No it will be bad for business and bad for our international reputation”.

He continued: “The most powerful economy in Europe, Germany, does not have same-sex marriage so the idea that voting No would be bad for business is clearly ridiculous”.

He went on “Stephen McIntyre is clearly right that ‘individuals perform better when they feel respected and supported’. Presumably Twitter employees feel completely free to publicly support a No vote without any consequences for them? Inclusion should be a value that applies to all, not just to people who agree with Twitter about redefining marriage”.

ENDS