Referendum illegalities

There’s an interesting article in today’s Irish Independent which, among other things, outlines the illegalities committed by the Yes side in the referendum.

The Yes side backed up the deliberate confusion with a number of illegalities committed in the name of the Government, the State and the Referendum Commission. These were non-precedents. They brought the European Commission, its personnel and their staff directly into the campaign, which was unlawful.

It was also unlawful to involve Yes – supporting European political parties in providing funds, in our own Government using public funding in support of one side, and in representing inaccurately the issues.

This should have been regulated by the Referendum Commission. It did no such thing, nor did it fulfill its statutory purpose, which was to explain the text of the referendum amendment on which people voted. At no time did the public get a full and clear indication of this.

The public media, including notably RTE and Newstalk 106, pursued a strongly ‘Yes’ side promotion, contrary to the State’s broadcasting acts that give them their licences.

I agree with the writer’s view that the results leaves almost 600,000 No voters without any significant mainstream party to vote for and the other 1.2 million voters trusting to a hopelessly wishful interpretation of the benefits of voting Yes.

The brutal truth is slowly beginning to dawn on Irish voters – They are misruled and misrepresented by an incompetent, greedy and largely corrupt body politic.