Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It certainly was not. In fact, the highest court in the land disagrees with what the Deputy said and accepts the bona fides of myself and my Department in this regard. However, I accept that the Government, as the court has found, in attempting to fulfil its duty to inform the people strayed beyond the boundary in the provision of information to the electorate. I readily accept and acknowledge that we must examine and implement the lessons to be learned from the successful legal challenge to the Government's information campaign. The Government has said that it is carefully studying the Supreme Court judgment which clarifies, for the first time since 1995, how the Government can make information available to the electorate during a referendum. At the appropriate time there will be considerable debate on these matters in the House and I look forward to participating in that debate, when the constraints that apply today are no longer relevant.

See this speech in context