Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Question 347: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the means by which the details of the upcoming referendum on parliamentary powers will be communicated to the electorate to ensure full clarity and understanding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24899/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution (Houses of the Oireachtas) Bill 2011 is being sponsored by my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The Government has approved the establishment of a Referendum Commission in relation to the proposed amendment of the Constitution contained in this Bill. Arising from that decision, I exercised the powers conferred on me under the Referendum Act 1998 to establish the Commission on 13 September 2011. The task of the Commission is to explain the subject matter of the referendum proposals, to promote public awareness of the referendum and to encourage the electorate to vote at the poll. Further information about the Referendum Commission can be found at www.refcom.ie.

The Government has also agreed that a statement for the information of voters at the forthcoming referendum should issue in accordance with section 23 of the Referendum Act 1994. This statement will be sent with the polling information card to every elector and issued separately to postal and special voters. It will be displayed in poster form in polling stations and it will also be available to presiding officers to assist blind and incapacitated voters and voters with literacy difficulties on polling day. The required motions for resolutions of each House of the Oireachtas in relation to the Statement are being progressed in tandem with the passage of the Bill through the Houses of the Oireachtas.