Labour Party leader Mr Ruairí Quinn today said he hopes the President, Mrs McAleese, will intervene to prevent the passing of a new law banning opinion polls on the week prior to elections.
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President Mrs McAleese
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Mr Quinn told
ireland.com
he hoped Mrs McAleese would "take note of concerns expressed by the Labour party".
He said by "exercising her unique authority she could refer it to the Council of State".
The new law banning opinion polls for seven days before elections was passed in the Dáil without a vote last night, a day before the house adjourns for the summer break until early October. Penalties of up to £100,000 and, or two years jail have been put in place for non-compliance.
Mr Quinn stopped short of actually asking Mrs McAleese to refer the bill to the Council of State. "I would not publicly call on her. She is a lawyer, I would respect her judgement," said Mr Quinn.
Saying the parliamentary Labour party "are all opposed to this appalling piece of legislation", Mr Quinn said their legal advice on the Bill also makes it illegal to canvass in the seven days prior to election on the basis that asking someone which way they were going to vote could count as a poll.
"This shows the absolute craziness of rushing bills through the Dáil," said Mr Quinn.
Mr Quinn also said the Bill was "anti-democratic" and would deny people the right to information they would otherwise get and that the fines and jail terms for infringement of the new law were "draconian".
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Asked about a reports that the Government had been warned by Attorney General, Mr Michael McDowell and an independent legal expert that the ban could be unconstitutional, the Taoiseach Mr Ahern today insisted: "That is not true. The legal advice was that people could argue different ways, which is the usual way with legal advice.
"I believe the government decision was right."
Mr Seamus Dooley, Irish organiser of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is also wary of the bill. "I regard the Government and Fine Gael’s action in pushing the bill through as a last minute measure, without consultation, as flying in the face of democracy.
"I would have grave reservations at any piece of legislation introduced on a whim. The NUJ would support referring this bill to the Supreme Court so that the judiciary may give consideration to issues that were not debated in the Dáil," he said.
The National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) in statement said it is "alarmed at the frightening speed with which Irish politicians have introduced legislation which prohibits the publication of opinion polls in the run up to an election.
"This new piece of legislation has been introduced to prevent the electorate from having access to the opinions of their peers at a time when they are in the process of choosing their next Government," the statement said.
The NNI went on to say that the right to know, free access to information and the freedom to conduct opinion research at any time are basic rights in any democracy.
The new law covers all opinion surveys and will apply to elections to the Dáil and European Parliament as well as presidential and local polls and referendums.
A similar change was proposed in 1991, but was dropped amid fears it might be unconstitutional.
The law was introduced through an amendment of the Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2000.
It will be debated in the Seanad next week.
