A SPOKESWOMAN for the Dublin Archdiocese has disclaimed responsibility for literature opposing the Lisbon Treaty distributed inside the Pro-Cathedral.
The disclaimer follows a letter of complaint from Labour spokesman on Europe Joe Costello TD to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin about the availability of "inaccurate" and "scaremongering" material from the anti-Lisbon groups Libertas and Cóir at the Pro-Cathedral.
The spokeswoman pointed out the Pro-Cathedral was "central and busy and particularly prone to this activity" but she added that a "similar situation occurs in many parishes throughout the diocese".
Mr Costello also complained about the free newspaper Alive!, published by a group at the Dominican Priory in Tallaght. "It contained no less than eight separate articles opposing the Lisbon Reform Treaty," he wrote. "I was singled out for criticism in one."
The spokeswoman told The Irish Times that "several Catholic-inspired publications are available in churches throughout the diocese and contain their own independent views on a variety of issues.
"None of these publications, while they use the church premises, necessarily represent the views of the priest of the parish, the diocese or the archbishop.
Their distribution is at the discretion of the individual parishes and priests have been alerted to the necessity of being vigilant during a political campaign."
In his letter, Mr Costello wrote: "I visited the Pro-Cathedral last Monday evening to attend the funeral of a friend of mine.
"As I queued to sign the book of condolences I passed a table at the back of the church that contained a considerable number of items of literature.
"When I examined the literature, I was amazed to find that it was not religious literature as I expected.
"It consisted entirely of political literature."
