Groups and individuals outside the State should be banned from providing funds for interest groups in referendum campaigns, according to a report being prepared by the All Party Committee on the Constitution.
The draft report, which has been seen by The Irish Times, says that such financial contributions "should be prohibited on the grounds that people, in making up their minds, should not be subject to pressures from individuals who have no responsibility in the issues to be decided".
During the 1983 and 1992 abortion referendums several antiabortion groups were known to have received funding from organisations in the United States.
Several of the key recommendations in the draft report are concerned with the implications of the 1995 Supreme Court judgment in the McKenna case which prohibits the government from using public money to promote a particular result in referendums.
The report notes that debate in a referendum must involve "a partisan campaign involving the general clash of ideas across all the media, whipped up by advertising and promotional material". The report says "legislation should allow funds to be made available to a commission to distribute to groups on the opposing sides".
The All-Party Committee suggests the introduction of a new system for proposing constitutional amendments. This would include a mandatory three-month waiting period between the publication of a referendum Bill and its passing by the Oireachtas.
During this waiting period, the report recommends, an all-party Oireachtas committee should examine the referendum proposals. It would "review the proposal, invite representations, hold interviews at its discretion and, within a specified time, report to both Houses on all relevant aspects of the matter".
After the publication of the committee's report and before the Oireachtas passes the Bill each member of the Dail would be "financially assisted in the production of a brochure in the numbers needed to cover the constituents of each TD".
This proposal is likely to be opposed by supporters of the McKenna judgment. However, the report claims this procedure would be "outside the scope of the McKenna judgment because it occurs before the passage of the Bill, and the Oireachtas can exercise its due powers and provide funding".
The draft report is likely to be completed following the outcome of next week's Supreme Court appeal by RTE against the application of the McKenna judgment to its coverage of referendums. A TCD academic, Mr Anthony Coughlan, won a High Court case compelling RTE to divide its party political broadcasts equally between pro and anti sides in referendum campaigns.