Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 66: To ask the Minister for Finance the estimated cost of holding a referendum or multiple referenda [17965/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The following table gives the cost of the two most recent referendums: Lisbon 1, 12 June 2008 and Lisbon 2, 2 October 2009.

The holding of a multiple question referendum would entail additional costs. Each question would entail a separate Referendum Commission and additional costs for conducting the count. There may be some economies of scale in procurement terms; the cost of a referendum commission is directly related to the complexity of the referendum proposal and the nature and scale of the information campaign necessary to ensure that the public are informed of the proposal. While it would not be possible at present to accurately calculate this additional cost, economies of scale and the fact that many costs would not be duplicated, would indicate that additional costs would be far less than for separate referendums.