Agency ‘ran out of time’ to inform public on votes

THE Electoral Commission has said they needed more than four weeks to tell the public about Friday’s referendums and apologised that households have not received information booklets – but the Taoiseach has hit back, saying they had enough time.

With just three days to go before the polling stations open, chair of the Electoral Commission, Judge Marie Baker, said she is ‘very sorry’ some people did not receive booklets by the week of the vote.

The family and care referendums are taking place on Friday as the Government seeks to amend the Constitution to remove the reference to a mother’s care in the home, and include a definition of families based on ‘other durable relationships’ outside of marriage.

Senator Lynn Boylan, campaign director for Sinn Féin who are advocating for a Yes Yes vote, said the Government’s

‘It seems like they are making a mess of it’

handling of the referendums is an ‘omnishambles’ and it should have been held in June.

She added: ‘This would have given time then for people to actually have those debates on this referendum. It’s not a straightforward referendum like repeal the 8th, or marriage equality. That was very short-sighted on the Government’s part to do that.

‘Why did they have to have it on March 8? Why not allow all of that time for people to receive the booklets, for the amendments to go to the Dáil and the Seanad and hold it in June – it just seems like they’re making a mess of it.’

Judge Baker told RTÉ Radio One: ‘It was a huge job, 2.3 million booklets, tonnes of paper.

‘They had to be printed, they had to be translated, they had to be agreed. We have to agree to give something very neutral and in some way useful, but with a very active website.’

However, the Taoiseach said yesterday the Electoral Commission had enough time to brief the public on the referendums.

He added: ‘As somebody who’s been involved in dropping leaflets and delivering letters for 20 or 30 years now, four weeks is more than enough time to get a leaflet printed and delivered.

‘And the wording for this referendum was agreed upon weeks ago, it was two or three months ago at this stage, and it was there on the Government’s website.’

The Electoral Commission’s campaign to inform the public on the referendum only began once legislation passed through the Oireachtas setting out the votes.

The bills providing for the referendum passed through the Dáil and Seanad on January 24, and the following day the Electoral Commission launched their campaign and began issuing the 16-page information booklet to households.

Responding to criticism that the electorate are not engaged with the referendum, Mr Varadkar said: ‘I think at the outset, we have four more days to go between now and polling day.

‘So the campaign is still under way, and it’s often the last week that people engage most with the campaign.

‘I’ll be doing everything I can between now and Friday to campaign for a Yes vote.’

The Taoiseach said that voting down the referendums will ‘reaffirm’ sexist language and fail to recognise family care in the Constitution.

He said if the Irish public vote against the proposed wording to change the Constitution, it will be a ‘retrograde step’.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald told the Irish Daily Mail that the Government’s approach to the referendums was ‘rushed and confused’.

She said: ‘They refused to allow the Opposition any input into the wording being put to the people – this was a mistake. The wording falls short of what was agreed by the Citizens’ Assembly.’