Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, I welcome the decision of the Irish people to support the children's referendum last week and to insert the proposed clause into the Constitution.

That decision was stained somewhat by the stark and blunt judgment of the Supreme Court when it essentially made it clear that the Government not only dismissed the McKenna judgment but was in breach of the Constitution in carrying out its own promotional campaign on the amendment. The Supreme Court was clear that there was a misstatement contained in the material produced by the Government as well as, "extensive passages in the booklet and on the website which do not conform to the McKenna" judgment, where "it was held that the Government in expending public moneys in the promotion of a particular result in a Referendum process was in breach of the Constitution.", and that the Government had "acted wrongfully in expending or arranging to expend public moneys on the website, booklet and advertisements in relation to the Referendum on the Thirty First Amendment of the Constitution (Children) Bill, 2012, ...".

For some reason, the Government obviously decided to formulate its own information and advocacy campaign parallel to the information campaign of the Referendum Commission and, presumably for its own political purposes, to use some of the taxpayers' money to advance its own situation. This is despite the fact that Mr. Justice Kevin Feeney, following his report on the referendum campaign on the fiscal treaty, stated that research found that dual campaigns cause problems and confusion. The Government had that report for quite some time and took a long time to release it. That should have been a warning sign to the Government not to go down the route on which it subsequently decided. In essence, what seems to have happened is that the Referendum Commission had its funding pulled back, the Government took a tranche of that funding and used it to produce its own materials. Others are suggesting that, because the Government was annoyed at the work of Mr. Justice McMahon on the Oireachtas public inquiries referendum, the Government decided it had to run its own campaign-----

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