Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 6 Nov 1997

Vol. 482 No. 5

Adjournment Debate. - Dissemination of Referendum Information.

Last Saturday I stood in St. Patrick's Hall in Dublin Castle awaiting the announcement of the referendum result. It was a rather strange and even surreal experience. I was the only Member of the Oireachtas present and initially no journalists were there until a crew from RTE belatedly turned up. In a sense, it was a fitting conclusion to a debacle — the referendum on cabinet confidentiality. It was a dark day for democracy. If we really care about democracy, we need to analyse the referendum campaign and results in detail.

The figures speak for themselves. Some 66,111 votes were spoiled and 11,625 people who voted in the presidential election did not bother to vote in the referendum. Added together, these figures give us a total of 77,736, which is greater than the margin of victory which was 63,602. The message is clear. People were confused and were not adequately informed about this important constitutional amendment. If they had been informed, I am convinced the "no" vote would have come out on top. As the "no" argument received publicity in the final few days, more people came to the view that we were including a half-baked measure in the Constitution and that we were, in effect, enshrining secrecy in the Constitution. The amendment was deeply flawed and we were asked to trust the Government.

I call on the Taoiseach to honour the commitment he gave to the House to revisit this matter. I hope he does so by Easter and that he does not hold the referendum on the same day as that on the Amsterdam Treaty. This referendum should treat the electorate with more respect and all future referenda should be conducted in a more even-handed and informative way. Five parties in the House advocated a "yes" vote — the two Coalition parties and the three parties which constituted the Rainbow Government. It is remarkable that on such important questions there is a very cosy consensus in the House. At the time of the bail referendum, the same five parties advocated a "yes" vote. I have no doubt that on the Amsterdam Treaty they will again advocate a "yes" vote.

Is it any wonder people have become cynical and disillusioned with politics? They are deprived of choice and information. The strategy of the five conservative parties, as I refer to them, is simply to deprive people of information and hope they will go to the ballot box and follow the party line. Mr. Joe Duffy of RTE relayed an interesting anecdote. He told us a woman in Swords approached the Taoiseach and asked him to explain what the referendum was about. He dismissed her by saying, "Do not ask any questions as it would take me all night to answer them; simply vote ‘yes'".

The advertisements placed by the ad hoc commission in the newspapers looked like planning applications and were not user friendly. The commission should be constituted into a proper commission similar to the one in Canada which operates very effectively. This would ensure that in future RTE would not follow slavishly the party line and simply allocate time to the largest parties. Such an approach negates democracy and is not what a referendum is about. Time should be allocated to the parties for and against a proposal on a 50-50 basis.

In reply to Parliamentary Question No. 1 from Deputy Spring on 22 October, the Taoiseach set out the arrangements put in place by the Government to ensure an informed debate took place on the issue of cabinet confidentiality in the context of the referendum on 30 October. In addition, the statutory requirement set out in section 23 of the Referendum Act, 1994, for the provision of information to voters was implemented. This House passed the required resolution on 10 September. The requirement relates to the inclusion on the polling information card of a statement for the information of voters which included the text of the proposed constitutional amendment. Posters containing statements for the information of voters on the proposed amendment to the Constitution were also displayed in all polling stations. In addition, copies of the relevant Bill were provided free of charge at all post offices.

As in the case of the referenda on divorce and bail, an ad hoc commission comprising the Ombudsman and the Clerks of the Dáil and Seanad was established on the invitation of the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to supervise the production and publication of an information statement setting out concisely the case for and against the proposed constitutional amendment. The commission was set up to ensure that the production and dissemination of information was carried out by an independent body without reference to the Government.

The statements, for the information of voters, were published in the national daily and evening newspapers, in the provincial press and the major free sheets during the week before the referendum. The text of the proposed amendment and the two prepared statements were printed in full in these notices.

As suggested during Question Time on 22 October, the party leaders representing the five biggest parties in the House issued a joint statement on the referendum on 28 October. In addition, members of the Government and of the parties in Government made speeches and took part in debates on television, radio, the media and elsewhere on the Cabinet confidentiality issue.

It has already been suggested by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government that the holding of referenda with other elections will have to be looked at in the context of the overshadowing of the referendum on Cabinet confidentiality by the presidential election and that the establishment of an independent referendum commission will have to be looked at in the context of holding frequent referenda. Recommendations made by the all-party commission on the Constitution are being examined in that context.

Barr
Roinn