Referendum Commission calls for more notice for referenda

The Referendum Commission started printing its guide to last year’s blasphemy referendum a week before the Government had announced the polling day - because it feared it would not have enough time to produce the leaflets due to the delay in declaring the date.

It has admitted that a late change of heart on the Government’s part could have rendered its information guides “unusable” but that it took a “pragmatic decision” to print early.