Referendum Campaigns

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 February 2024

Wednesday, 14 February 2024

Questions (118)

Carol Nolan

Question:

118. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the measures he is taking to ensure that organisations, including State bodies under the aegis of his Department as well as non-governmental organisations and charities that are in receipt of funding from his Department, do not use any portion of such funding to campaign or promote a position in favour or against any outcome of the forthcoming referenda on Articles 41.1.1, 41.2.1 and 41.2.2 of the Constitution, thereby breaching the McKenna principles; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6758/24]

Written answers

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment

The judgment in McKenna stated that the Government has a duty to give information to the electorate as well as to clarify issues which may arise in the course of a campaign and must do so without advocating a particular position. Information must be fair, equal, impartial and neutral.

It is the role of the Electoral Commission, as Ireland’s independent electoral commission, to prepare impartial and unbiased information about the proposals in the upcoming referenda on Article 41.1.1 and Articles 42.2.1 and 42.2.2 of the constitution and make that information available to the public.

Clear guidance on the implications of relevant court judgments for the upcoming referenda on the 39th and 40th amendments of the Constitution was issued to all departments from the Department of the Taoiseach on the 5 December 2023.

My Department and the bodies under its aegis are fully aware of their obligations in this regard.