Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As regards the Supreme Court judgment, does the Minister accept that the handling of the website issue was a complete cock-up by the Government? I agree with the Minister on the substance of the issue and voted "Yes" myself. However, I was annoyed during the last few days of that campaign because I thought the Government could have blown the whole issue. Does the Minister agree that the Government should apologise to the people for mishandling this issue? The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, was on television that week and refused to apologise.

Is it not the reality that many members of the Government, and people in the major political parties, do not really accept the McKenna judgment? Privately, they barely tolerate the decision. In future, the Government should be very careful to present the referendum, let it run in a fair and balanced way, and let the people decide.

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