Michael McDowell
Ceist:17 Mr. M. McDowell asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform the actual expenditure incurred by the Government on the divorce referendum; and the final costs involved. [18224/95]
Written Answers. - Divorce Referendum Costs.
Bertie Ahern
Ceist:22 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform the precedents, if any, there are for conducting private opinion polls on behalf of the Government; the procedures that govern them; his views on whether polls carried out at public expense should be published with the minimum of delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16342/95]
Mary Harney
Ceist:36 Miss Harney asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform the actual expenditure of the Government on the divorce referendum to date; and the final cost. [17224/95]
Dermot Ahern
Ceist:59 Mr. D. Ahern asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform the expenditure to-date on advertising various aspects of the divorce referendum campaign; and the estimated or actual outstanding amounts. [18029/95]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 17, 22, 36 and 59 together. Expenditure incurred by my Department under its subhead in relation to the referendum on divorce for which invoices have been received amounts to £23,694. It is estimated that the total expenditure will amount to, approximately, £480,000. The provision in the subhead of my Department for the expenditure is £500,000. The main heads of expenditure are in relation to press advertisements, information leaflets which were distributed to each household and post offices, an information booklet on the legislative context and administrative measures under which divorce would operate, which was made available for sale through the Government Publications Sales Office, and three MRBI polls.
The MRBI polls I have mentioned are the only polls for which my Department has had responsibility. I arranged to have the polls carried out as background research for the information of the Cabinet sub-committee on divorce which had been established by the Government to make recommendations on the form of the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution Bill and the Government's programme of information on divorce and to identify issues in the divorce debate which needed to be addressed. The research helped to inform discussions in the Cabinet sub-committee and the decisions taken by it. The research elicited information on the attitudes of people on divorce laws which might or might not be acceptable; what kind of information people sought in the debate and what action needed to be taken to allay their concerns.
There are no official procedures specific to such research reports and no fixed rules about their publication. However, I would agree that, where publication does arise, it should be arranged with the minimum of delay.