A Commentary on the Referendum Commission website

Original Referendum Commission text is in black; comments are in brown

Introduction

The Referendum Commission is an independent body set up by law to ensure that you, the voters, are informed about the issues involved in the forthcoming referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon. As well as providing impartial information, the Referendum Commission’s role is to encourage you to go out and vote on referendum day.

If the Treaty enters into force then it will change the way the European Union is governed and operates. It will therefore affect you. You, the voters, have the right to decide on this important issue. The reason that you have this right is because the Lisbon Treaty cedes sovereignty to the European Union; and, the Irish Constitution must be altered to allow this to happen. As the result of a case taken by an individual, Ray Crotty, who was challenging the Government of the day, The Supreme Court ruled that sovereignty rests with the people and only they can give up that sovereignty : if you do not find out about the Treaty and don’t vote, then others will make the decision for you.

In this website the Referendum Commission attempts to explain as simply as possible:

• what you are being asked to decide in the referendum;
• what the Treaty is about.

Others will argue for a “Yes” or a “No” vote. The Referendum Commission’s role is to do neither, but simply to explain what the referendum is about and encourage you to vote.

Read about the wording of the referendum here.

10° The State may ratify the Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, signed at Lisbon on the 13th day of December 2007, and may be a member of the European Union established by virtue of that Treaty.

11° No provision of this Constitution invalidates laws enacted, acts done or measures adopted by the State that are necessitated by the obligations of membership of the European Union referred to in subsection 10° of this section, or prevents laws enacted, acts done or measures adopted by the said European Union or by institutions thereof, or by bodies competent under the treaties referred to in this section, from having the force of law in the State.

(The first two sentences of the proposed ammendment to Article 29.4 of the Constitution of Ireland)