Prominent supporters of the Nice Treaty have criticised the Referendum Commission for failing to mention the enlargement of the European Union in a booklet on the forthcoming referendums distributed to all households.
The chairman of the commission, Mr Justice Thomas Finlay, has rejected the criticisms. Speaking at the launch of the European Movement Ireland campaign for a Yes vote, Mr Alan Gillis said it was "more than surprising" that the booklet, entitled Three Proposals, Three Decisions, contained no reference to enlargement.
The Fine Gael spokesman on Agriculture, Mr Alan Dukes, who also attended the launch, said he had written to the commission last week to complain about the booklet.
"The Referendum Commission, by not emphasising the fact that the treaty is about enlargement, has contributed to there being a danger of the argument being skewed," Mr Dukes said.
Arising from an "excessively rigid" and "timorous" interpretation of its function, the commission had "produced something which is less than full information to the public".
In a reply to the letter from Mr Dukes, Mr Justice Finlay said the commission "does not accept that its booklet is fatally flawed so far as the Nice Treaty aspect is concerned". The commission chairman said that, under the relevant terms of reference, it was required to prepare "a statement or statements containing a general explanation of the subject matter of the proposal and of the text thereof in the relevant Bill".
He pointed out that the legislation for the Nice referendum, the 24th Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2001, "makes no reference to the enlargement of the EU, nor indeed does the Explanatory Memorandum which accompanied the Bill".
In addition, "having regard to the need for brevity", the commission had decided it was appropriate to concentrate on the actual amendments proposed in the Nice document to previous EU treaties.
Condemning what he described as a "disgraceful and unwarranted attack" on the commission, Green TD Mr John Gormley added: "This is Alan Dukes at his bolshie best and, really, I believe it is just a case of not being able to handle democracy."
The Green MEP for Dublin, Ms Patricia McKenna, said it was "absolutely disgraceful" that the commission was being criticised for its objectivity. "What they are doing is fair and even," she added.
However Mr Proinsias De Rossa MEP, who is directing Labour's campaign for a Yes vote, said he also had written to the commission expressing "serious concern" that the approach it had taken in the leaflet was "profoundly unbalanced and misleading".