THE REFERENDUM Commission set up prior to the Lisbon Treaty referendum has been sharply criticised by anti-Lisbon campaigner Anthony Coughlan.
Commenting on the publication of expenditure details for the commission, Mr Coughlan said: "Rarely can public money have been spent to such ill effect."
The statement of expenditure shows that €4,947,660.02 has been spent by the commission to date, including advertising (excluding press) €1,535,545.34; legal costs €47,405.38; printing and design of publications €357,821.21; postage and other distribution costs €1,042,316.68; press and other public awareness promotions €1,898,210.91; translation costs €3,607.96, other administration costs €60,198.71 and miscellaneous €2,553.83.
Responding to Mr Coughlan, a spokesman said: "The Referendum Commission is required to report to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government on the performance of its functions and will be doing so. The commission followed proper public expenditure and procurement rules and will be subject to audit in the normal way."
In his statement, Mr Coughlan said: "In the circumstances it was a democratic miracle that the majority of Irish voters rejected the proposal to amend the Constitution. If the commission had done the job it was statutorily required to do, the No side majority would almost certainly have been much larger, for people would have learned of the constitutional revolution which Lisbon proposed, instead of being kept in ignorance of it."
Mr Coughlan criticised what he terms "the Referendum Commission's profound failure to carry out its statutory function of explaining the actual constitutional amendment and its text to Irish voters."
He claimed that the commission, "failed to inform voters that the legally new European Union" established by Lisbon would, have the constitutional form of a supranational federation.
Ireland and the other member states would have the constitutional status of regional or provincial states in this new federation, Mr Coughlan claimed.