Reporting referenda Sean Phelan

1. Reporting referenda Sean Phelan

2. Background points • 1995 McKenna judgment • Prevents government from spending state funds on the advocacy of its own constitutional amendment proposals • Ruling held that ‘the people’ are the only arbiters of constitutional change • Established the Referendum Commission • Not a standing body but an ad hoc one activated whenever the Government calls a referendum. • Obligation on RTE to provide equal time to both sides of the argument

3. The Referendum Commission • ‘The primary role of [the] Commission is to explain to the people the subject matter of the referendum as simply and effectively as possible, while ensuring that the arguments of those in favour and those against the proposed amendment to the Constitution are put forward in a manner that is fair to all interests concerned’. Referendum Commission website • Following changes by an Oireachtas committee in Dec 2001, its role is now more limited. Rather than putting both sides, it must instead "foster and promote" debate and encourage people to vote. Irish Times, Feb 20. • Why were these changes made? • What impact will they have on Nice 2? • Will they be a source of contention during Nice 2 ?

4. Interpreting the Nice result • Richard Sinnott (UCD political scientist) agues that the ‘central analytical issue is not what lay behind the no vote but why so many abstained’ • No vote actually declined between 1998 (Amsterdam treaty) and 2001 • One obvious explanation of the defeat is the Yes side’s failure to mobilise its supporters • But what about the rhetoric used by both sides during the campaign - particularly the arrogant, dismissive attitude of the yes side?

5. Nice campaign rhetoric all these extracts - unless otherwise stated - are taken from the Irish Times

6. Uses of agency - the Referendum Commission ‘It is in fact about the enlargement of the Community. That is its stated purpose as set out in the preamble, and anyone who listens to the radio can daily hear the neutral Referendum Commission stating unequivocally that this treaty "contains what EU governments consider necessary for enlargement”’. Garret Fitzgerald "The Referendum Commission, by not emphasising the fact that the treaty is about enlargement, has contributed to there being a danger of the argument being skewed” Alan Dukes “The objective information booklet produced by the Referendum Commission does not mention enlargement, emphasising instead that the treaty is concerned with changes in EU decision-making procedures and with the assumption of EU responsibility for military affairs”. Andy Storey

7. Uses of agency - Kofi Annan I wish the Africa-Europe Faith and Justice Network could have been with me in Brussels last week at a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers when Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, stressed the role which the EU could play as a regional organisation carrying out peacekeeping missions under the umbrella of the UN. Brian Cowen But won't our involvement be under UN mandate? Then why did Ireland endorse NATO's catastrophic Serbia/Kosova” peacemaking", which Kofi Annan has said lacked such a mandate? Are mere political promises enough here, particularly from the government that joined Partnership for Peace - the front door to NATO - without the referendum it had solemnly promised? John McGuire

8. Key media interventions - the case of John Rogers • Labour party member and former Attorney General • Called for a No vote in an Irish Times article and made several subsequent media appearances • His intervention described by many as ‘seminal’? • Why so?

9. It’s not about that, it’s about this!! What the Irish people were being asked, Mr Ahern said, was to give countries which had been under the tyranny and domination of the Soviet Union an opportunity to join Europe."This is our opportunity to help the other applicant countries and that's what this campaign is about. Irish Times report Mr Ahern said the treaty was about enlargement and not about other things put out by people"trying to give disinformation". Irish Times report (Interestingly the latter comments were printed on the same day as a review of a book on the Nice treaty which has 5 chapters on the agreed institutional changes)

10. Debating Europe Irish style??? I have pointed out on several occasions since my appointment that European affairs are not properly debated within Irish democracy. Voters are treated, instead, to a political Punch and Judy show, in which opinions tend to form around opposite and somewhat extreme poles. If someone forthrightly states his or her own view, instead of welcoming it for what it is, a personal view, there is uproar that any individual or contrary viewpoint should be expressed. Another down side of this mind set is impatience or dismissiveness towards doubters and dissentients. In the context of the EU, it is quite customary to have opponents of federalism dubbed as Euro-sceptics. Michael McDowell speech to the Institute of European Affairs 18th of June (Post-referendum)

11. Punch V Judy? Fine Gael leader Mr Michael Noonan said "eurosceptic" remarks made last night by the Attorney General Mr Michael McDowell had put him in "an untenable position”...The Fine Gael leader also accused the Taoiseach of a "lamentable lack of leadership" in Ireland and the EU. Or Boston V Berlin? [McDowell’s speech] is a critique of the Government's failings, the Labour Party claimed today. Labour Leader Mr Ruairí Quinn, said the Coalition Government appeared to be divided on Europe. "There is a real fault line developing over European policy in my view and it is based on a left/right divide. Ministers Harney and McCreevy and the AG have one political belief in common - they believe in big business and small government."

12. Primetime report on Nice • Is there an ideological slant in the way the story is being presented here? • If so, what is it?

13. News at One - Alan Dukes & Patricia McKenna • How is the Referendum Commission used and referenced by both? • Consider the rhetoric of facticity that is deployed here - particularly by Dukes. Is it used to bludgeon or enlighten? • What about dismissive attitudes towards the ‘other’ side?

14. Questions and Answers on neutrality • How is the agency used in this discussion? (Fianna Fail, Kofi Annan, United Nations, Romana Prodi, Finland, Sweden & Austria) • Consider the rhetoric of facticity that is deployed here. • What about dismissive attitudes? • Who’s being disingenuous? • Who’s making the ethical/altruistic argument? Is it convincing?

15. Primetime debate between Gormley and O’Keefe • How central is the Referendum Commission to Gormley’s argument? • ‘Bad for Ireland, Bad for Europe’ • O’Keefe’s tried to ground his argument in altruistic terms. Is he convincing? • Will lead to a ‘cleaner Europe’ • JG: Here to deal with the facts” - “not primarily about enlargement” • Is Gormley’s argument engaged with or deflected? • What about uses of agency?

16. Interpreting the Irish No - Ideology & the British press

17. Bertie’s Smear campaign? The Nice Treaty No campaigners have been accepting money from British Eurosceptics to bolster their efforts to defeat the referendum, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has claimed. He has been accused of smear tactics by opponents of the EU treaty changes. He wants to know how much financial assistance the European Foundation headed by the "aptly named" Mr Bill Cash, a Tory MP, had given to the No campaign in financial assistance. "The money is foreign money trying to influence the Irish voter with a campaign of disinformation. I think we should stand up to that. The independence from EU issue was not coming from Sinn Fein, which was concentrating on NATO, Mr Ahern said. The money for the campaign was largely American money from a right-wing fundamentalist organisation”. The Irish Times

18. The Daily Telegraph Whatever happened in the British general election, the Euro-realist movement is thriving... our victories first in Denmark and now in Ireland demonstrate that the peoples of Europe are fundamentally opposed to pan-European government. The Irish democrats who voted "no" in the only referendum to be held on the Nice Treaty showed themselves to be fearless guardians of freedom. They were angry at the outrageous condemnation of their successful economic policy by unelected European bureaucrats, and realised that the Nice Treaty was a political experiment with unknown consequences. It was intent on bulldozing smaller states as it created a two-tier EU with a German-dominated hard core. Charles Stewart Parnell's statue in O'Connell Street in Dublin is inscribed with his immortal words, "Let no man set a boundary to the march of a nation." Parnell would have been appalled at the thought of Ireland being absorbed into a European superstate. Bill Cash, Tory MP - June 09, 2001

19. Mail on Sunday Things could not be clearer. Thursday's vote illuminates with brilliant clarity the most important fact about the euro: that the single currency can never work because it is structurally incompatible with basic principles of democracy. Consequently, either the euro will continue to weaken dragging Europe's economies down with it or democracy itself will have to be suppressed. I am referring, of course, not to the British General Election, in which Europe was not a key issue, but to the referendum in the Republic of Ireland which rejected the European Union's Treaty of Nice by 54 per cent. At the very moment when the Blairite media supported by the usual unelected but self-appointed Tory grandees were attacking the Conservatives as extreme and out of touch on Europe, ordinary voters across the Irish Sea were sticking two fingers up at Brussels' latest attempt to grab more power.

20. The Sun editorial THE vote in Ireland is great news. Yet again REAL people have rejected the European superstate. It happened in Denmark -where the Danes rejected the euro last year. And now the Irish have rejected the Nice treaty. Why doesn't Britain get a vote on Nice?

21. The Guardian HEADLINE: Ireland blocks EU drive to the east: Voters' rejection of Nice treaty is a wake-up call for Blair, and a shock for membership hopefuls European Union members last night vowed to forge ahead with their ambitious plans to enlarge to the east after Ireland rejected the Nice treaty in a referendum marked by popular apathy and hostility to deeper integration. Just as EU leaders were greeting Tony Blair's second term with rising expectations for a British referendum on the single currency next year, the news from Dublin cast a heavy pall. A stunning 54% victory for "No" campaigners threatened to delay or derail the biggest project ever undertaken by the union.

22. The London Independent HEADLINE: NICE TREATY: IRISH 'NO' VOTE THREATENS EU EXPANSION PLAN; TRADITIONALLY PRO-EUROPEAN ELECTORATE DELIVERS STUNNING REBUFF TO BLUEPRINT FOR REFORM AND ENLARGEMENT IRELAND DELIVERED a stunning rebuff to the EU yesterday, when voters rejected the Nice Treaty, threatening a political crisis to cast doubt on Europe's plans for eastward expansion. The unexpected referendum "No" vote was a hefty political blow for Brussels, coming from a country where support for the EU has been strong - and one that has hugely benefited from European financial aid. The decision by Irish voters, amid a 33 per cent turn-out, has given the country an instant reputation as Europe's most ungrateful nation.

23. American & European perspectives

24. New York Times HEADLINE: Europe Union's Dreams Meet Electoral Reality The European Union's lofty project to embrace the formerly Communist nations of Central Europe, a project that would double the size of "Europe" as people now think of it, collided with a serious new obstacle put up today by Irish voters. In a shock to leaders across Europe, Irish voters resoundingly rejected a treaty that would redistribute power within the European Union and is intended to prevent paralysis if its membership climbs from 15 to as many as 27 countries. Though Ireland has an economy that is smaller than many American cities, today's unexpected "no" vote threatened to tangle the European Union's entire effort to get its house in order in time for the new arrivals.

25. European reaction - as reported in the Irish Times El Pais, Spain"(This) means that 76,017 votes are blocking the future of hundreds of millions of Europeans... [reform is necessary] so that it will be impossible for one state to paralyse an initiative by rejecting it La Repubblica (Italy) - "Poor Europe, to have received a stab in the back from its favourite son. The Irish.. No..will not be fatal for eastern enlargement, but it bleeds, it hurts and it will only heal slowly. The more Europe's ambition grows, the more clearer are its limits.” Suddeutsche Zeitung (Germany) - "Europe is trembling. The Irish have made the continent aware of the power of a small nation. Fears around Ireland give a bitter foretaste of what problems the EU has ahead of it with 27 members." Le Monde (France) - "The Irish warning demands a change of tack. The European project is clear. But it has not become a matter for the citizens. It is neither thrilling nor persuasive because its political expression appears ever more confusing and weak."

26. European reaction Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland) - "The Irish, who have so much in common with us, stand in the way of our common Europe. We believe that they did not really mean it and we hope it will be temporary. But the Irish referendum was a lesson in democracy for all of Europe . . . It is a failure of the Irish government, who did not explain what the treaty was all about." Politiken (Denmark) - "From a European point of view, the Danish disease has spread to Ireland. The disease is not about being Eurosceptic or against this or that EU reform . . . No, the Danish disease lies in holding a referendum about an issue so obviously inappropriate for a referendum." Liberation (France) - "The chances for a second referendum are good, as long as the Government in Dublin is prepared to make good this embarrassing mistake. It is obvious that the Irish Government did not prepare for this referendum at all."

27. Fianna Fail’s post Nice populism

28. Fianna Fail the anti-establishment party?? The Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, has sharply attacked "the Establishment", including politicians, trade union and farming leaders, for criticising the electorate's rejection of the Nice Treaty. Defending his decision to vote No and to declare that he had done so afterwards, Mr O Cuiv said it was "most extraordinary" that his right to vote would be questioned. Rounding on the Establishment, he said: "They seemed, in some way, to infer that when the people exercised their constitutional right (they) first of all had no right to do so, and, secondly, that they were either fools, or knaves.

29. Fianna Fail populism "Here we had all the political parties, all of the media, both broadcast and print, all of the organisations - IBEC, the ICTU, the IFA and everybody else - yet the plain people of Ireland in their wisdom have decided to vote No. I think that's a very healthy sign." So said the Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, on Friday. The Irish Times

30. Speculating on Nice 2? • Will the rhetoric change? Will the yes side be as contemptuous of NO arguments? • A treaty about “enlargement” and..? • ‘Who’ will make the enlargement arguments? Will East European leaders arrive in their droves? • What about the role of the Referendum Commission. Will its role become even more political? • What about Pat Cox? • Will the yes side still cling to neutrality myths? • Will the grand European vision be more up-front and bold? • What will happen if we vote No again? • A second great stand off between Ireland and empire?

31. Abortion referendum

32. What’s wrong with confusion? Confusion reigns supreme and the posters are guilty as hell. In essence, that is the emerging media consensus about the abortion referendum. The standard introduction to radio and TV items, in this second-last week of the campaign, has the reporter bemoaning the confusion, while newspapers and TV programmes, including the Late Late Show, have promoted the competing posters to a suddenly central role equalled only by the position achieved by curling in the Winter Olympics. Terry Phrone writing in The Irish Times

33. What’s wrong with “confusion”?? • Irish Times Headlines • Prof Casey accuses No lobbyists of creating confusion; Legal decision to dictate what happens next • Seasoned anti-abortion activists battle voter confusion in Galway • FG plans for limited abortion in suicide risk cases Taoiseach denounces attempts to spread 'confusion' in public debate • The Catholic Bishop of Ferns, Dr Brendan Comiskey, has accused some, including politicians on the No side in the abortion referendum debate of using confusion as "a deliberate strategy". • Fianna Fail Senator Des Hanafin said the behaviour of some Labour and Fine Gael opponents "gives politics a bad name". "They have, on some occasions, tried to frighten the electorate into voting No. When that doesn't work, they have adopted a general policy of creating as much confusion as possible in the public mind and then telling those who are confused to vote No," he claimed.

34. "confusion is not an ignoble condition” Brian Friel, Translations • How patronising is all the media talk about public ‘confusion’? • Is confusion not the most understandable human response to an issue like abortion? • Is confusion not a bulwark against ideology? • Can one think of analogies where the public ‘mind’ is similarly patronised? • What about confusion and opinion polls?

35. A defeat for Bertie??? The result represents a substantial defeat for Fianna Fail and for the Taoiseach, who spent six years working towards this proposal and campaigned vigorously for its acceptance. The Irish Times BACKLASH FOR BERTIE - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern suffered the worst setback of his Government term with the defeat yesterday of the abortion referendum proposal. The loss is all the more acute because of his personal stamp on the campaign. The Irish Independent Ahern grapples with his worst-ever judgment call - Independent Headline

36. Fintan O’Toole - Mar 8, 2002 ... the certainties on which conservative morality is founded have been replaced by ambiguities. What we are seeing is the birth of a kind of soft conservatism which may well coincide with the watering down of religious practice in a secularising society. While some of those within the mainstream anti-abortion movement may take comfort in the argument that they would have won if the Government proposal had brought the hardline anti-abortionists on board, this argument is unconvincing. Yesterday's results confirm the complete disintegration of that near-consensus that abortion is never justified. It is now clear that the moral question that most people ask themselves is about the range of circumstances in which abortion is permissible.

37. The limits of Irish liberalism? - Primetime debate • How many “pro-lifers” on the panel? • What about Dana’s rhetoric? • Where is the “pro-choice” argument? • Where is the feminist argument? • Is the argument more of a technical/scholastic one than anything else? • How is agency being used? • Is there any sense of McKenna judgment tensions on screen?

38. The power of a story? Recently I was told that the 16-week old foetus I was carrying had a severe chromosomal abnormality, incompatible with life, which would result in death soon after birth. This was a very much wanted baby, but the trauma of this news was vastly exacerbated by the thought of being forced to carry to full term a foetus which would never know extra-uterine life. I am angry that men I do not know and who don't know me, people like Des Hanafin and William Binchy and others who have been complicit with Fianna Fail governments and the Catholic Church, have decided that my body is their demesne; that they have the right to decide how my family will cope with this very real tragedy; that, regardless of the emotional and physical distress for us, I must do what they want; that their bigoted will rules my body. Ms Deirdre de Barra, letter to The Irish Times