Seanad Report: The handling of publicity for the introduction of electronic voting should be immediately withdrawn from a public relations company with "strong links" to Fianna Fáil which had discriminated blatantly against Fine Gael, Mr Frank Feighan (FG) said.
The Minister, Mr Cullen, should confirm or deny if this company had been "issued a deliberate agenda to influence the public by their explanatory leaflets, which clearly indicated a voter casting a vote for a Fianna Fáil candidate".
Much more worryingly, Fine Gael had been excluded from a sample European election ballot paper. This was blatant discrimination and raised questions about the impartiality of the company. The Minister should move speedily to hand responsibility for this publicity to an independent entity.
Mr Brian Hayes, the Fine Gael leader in the House, called on the Government to clarify if it intended to place restrictions on citizens coming into Ireland from the new EU accession states.
He said that the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, had indicated that he was considering introducing restrictions on citizens of EU accession states who wished to live and work in the UK.
"As Ireland and the UK are the only two member-states of the EU who currently have no restrictions in this regard, it is vital that we harmonise our position with the UK to avoid becoming the only gateway to employment for the new accession states," Mr Hayes said.