Green MEP Ms Patricia McKenna last night accused the Coalition of "browbeating the public into voting along Government lines" and said its rush to ratify the Nice Treaty was preventing the Referendum Commission from doing an effective job.
"It is obvious that the Government is rushing the referendum on the Nice Treaty through in the hope that the people will have restricted access to information and will not have time to examine the arguments," Ms McKenna said.
"This is the reason why they are making it extremely difficult for the Referendum Commission to outline the case for and against Nice efficiently to the public." It was a "disgrace", she added, that the commission would not have enough time to present "both arguments in detail to everyone in the country".
It was a decision by the Supreme Court in favour of Ms McKenna which has obliged the State to publicise both sides of the argument in referendums to amend the Constitution.
The time constraints and other serious challenges for the Referendum Commission in the run-up to the referendums on June 7th were acknowledged to be a problem yesterday by the chairman of the commission, former Chief Justice Mr Tom Finlay.
The commission is the body set up under the Referendum Act 1998 to prepare and disseminate information "for every person in the land entitled to vote" on proposed amendments to the Constitution - including statements setting out the arguments for and against.
"We're not in the business of weighing the arguments for or against," Mr Finlay told a press conference yesterday in the Office of the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman, Mr Kevin Murphy, is one of the commission's four ordinary serving members along with the Clerk of the Dail, Mr Kieran Coughlan, the Clerk of the Seanad, Ms Deirdre Lane, and the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Purcell.
"Our job is to present to the public the arguments for and against in a manner that's fair to all," Mr Finlay added. The closing date for submission of arguments to the commission is May 22nd. It is statutorily obliged to consider all submissions before drafting its considered response, hence time is of the essence.
On April 17th, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government instructed the commission to carry out its functions in relation to the provision of information on the forthcoming referendums.
A budget of £4.5 million was allocated for the campaign - £2.5 million for the Treaty of Nice campaign and £1 million each for the abolition of the death penalty and the acceptance of the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court referendums.
The texts of the three Bills were approved by the Oireachtas on May 4th but the Government did not set the date for the referendums until last Tuesday, May 8th, Mr Finlay told the press conference.
Some 1.3 million households would receive a self-sealed information bulletin on each of the referendums in the post by May 25th, he said. It would be followed by a more detailed document on each of the referendum proposals after all submissions had been reviewed but there would not enough time left to ensure postal delivery to all households.
Instead, it will "have to be publicised through all available methods" including public libraries, community centres, advertisements in the newspaper and on radio and television. In addition, the commission hopes its website www.refcom.ie will be up and running by next week, Mr Finlay said. It may also be contacted by e-mail at refcom@ ombudsman.irlgov.ie
Time constraints also impinged on the process of hiring a communications consultant as the Referendum Commission is entitled to do under the Act to monitor media coverage of the campaign and advise accordingly. Ironically, it was criticised in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General for previously hiring Drury Communications unilaterally as its advisers during the Amsterdam Treaty and Northern Ireland Agreements referendums, without offering the post for tender.
The commission's reports on these two referendums show that £37,116 was spent on "media monitoring and analysis" during the Amsterdam Treaty campaign and £11,441 on the Northern Ireland campaign.
Mr Tim Collins from Drury Communications is now being hired on a contract basis, however, in the role of campaign coordinator "and to liaise on what we want do to", Mr Finlay said. His role would be primarily as a co-ordinator in the production of broadcasts aimed at "targeting young people", the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr Purcell, said.