Public information from the Referendum Commission on the referendum on the Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy Bill has been seriously hampered by lack of time.
The commission has acknowledged the difficulties it faces by announcing that it will not be able to deliver an information booklet to each household, as has occurred in every referendum since the McKenna judgment.
Under legislation, the commission does not have a permanent existence and is brought into life for a period before and after a referendum on the order of the Minister for the Environment.
Mr Dempsey signed an order last Friday establishing it for the abortion referendum. The body, chaired by the former president of the High Court, Mr Justice Morris, first met on Tuesday.
Following the Nice Treaty, the outgoing commission chairman complained sharply about the Government's persistent refusal to set it up in time to do its work.
An information booklet on the referendum proposal is being prepared, although the commission may have to resort to distributing it through libraries etc. Under legislation, the commission, which has a €3 million budget, is entitled to requisition advertising time from RTÉ. It is also preparing newspaper advertisements to help explain the March 6th referendum.
Following changes to the Referendum Act last December, the commission no longer has a statutory role to explain both sides of the argument. Instead, it has to explain the subject matter as simply and effectively as possible and promote public awareness that a referendum is taking place. The changes have made the commission's job somewhat easier, since it does not have to request, and then wait for, submissions from interested parties on both sides.
Although voters will be asked on March 6th to vote for an amendment which will append a Bill to the Constitution, they will have difficulty in finding out what that Bill states, it has emerged.
The first schedule of the Bill will be distributed in polling stations by returning officers. However, this deals only with the text of the amendment to be added to the Constitution. This states: "In particular, the life of the unborn in the womb shall be protected in accordance with the provisions of the Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy Act, 2002."
The first schedule also contains the technical sections dealing with the need to have a referendum to change the provisions of the Act.
However, the second schedule of the Bill, which states what these provisions are, will not be either distributed by returning officers or displayed in polling stations.
A total of 30,000 copies of the Bill will be distributed to post offices, but this falls far short of the number of voters on the electoral roll. Therefore, it appears that the majority of voters will be asked to vote for a law on abortion which can only be amended by further referendum without knowing what this law actually states.
