Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I note that the Referendum Commission's report referred to by Senator Mooney shows that the majority in favour of the retention of this House was larger than was shown in the poll because of the confusing nature of the way the question was put. Support for the House is stronger. If, as I requested, the commission had included in its literature the fact that this was an invitation for people in the Republic of Ireland to deprive people in Northern Ireland of a vote, the margin would have been larger. The fact that this opinion poll conducted by the commission shows the result we welcome again calls into question the role of opinion polls before the referendum, which showed that on the Monday before the referendum, only 27% of people favoured the retention of this House. It came in at 52% and now it is even larger.

The Referendum Commission should look at how the opinion polls were conducted because the unfortunate aspect is that the newspapers commissioning the polls then feel obliged to have their political correspondents write articles supporting the polls. They could have seriously demoralised those of us in the "No" campaign and distorted the result. Given that the "No" people were out-spent by about 1,000:1, that spending limit should be examined by the Referendum Commission. The fact that 140 Deputies in Fine Gael, the Labour Party, Sinn Féin and People Before Profit campaigned to abolish this House shows that they are out of touch. One of the aspects people voted against when they voted for us was the way the whip system is applied.

It is a shame on the House that the Whip system was applied last night to vindicate the rights of spin doctors for a very evil industry.