Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Leaving everything to the Electoral Commission is not the right way to proceed. We might be having a post mortem here in two weeks and we may very well regret taking the approach in question. It could be too late regarding the referendum under discussion.

I will make my point again and not press it thereafter. It relates to handing people three, four or five ballot papers at the beginning of June, one of which will be for a referendum. When people ask what the referendum is about and are directed to a notice in the corner of the polling station that states they are being asked whether Ireland may ratify the agreement on a unified patent court, many will wonder what it is about. No one inside the room will be allowed to explain it to them. All I am looking for is a simple elaboration stating the referendum is to facilitate the establishment of a streamlined patent system, making it easier to protect inventions across the 24 participating EU countries.

I accept that the Minister of State may argue about the phraseology I have used, but the phraseology he is using and that the Attorney General has signed off on is insufficient and does not provide information. It is an insult to the public to say it constitutes the provision of information to them on the referendum because it does not. No one will be any the wiser having read it. I do not want to be surprised in mid-June because we slipped up on this. That is my final word on it.

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