Junior minister wrong: Balance is required in coverage of referendum

I was surprised that junior minister Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, who is leading the Government campaign on gay marriage, doesn’t seem to be familiar with the rules governing referendums.

He was reported in the Irish Examiner on January 1 as saying, in respect of broadcasting coverage, that “there’s no requirement for 50/50 [between the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ sides]. The requirement for 50/50 is in funds, that’s the McKenna judgement. The 50/50 is in that regard”.

This is incorrect. The McKenna judgment does not require that there be 50/50 funding in a referendum campaign.

It found that the State may not use taxpayers’ funds to support one side. Since State funding has been excluded, in every referendum of the last 20 years the majority of private funding has been on one side: ie, the side supported by the political parties.

Secondly, Mr Ó Ríordáin is wrong to say that there is no similar requirement in respect of broadcasting time.

The Coughlan judgment, by the Supreme Court in 2000, found that there was a Constitutional imperative to give equal time to both sides in a debate.

The recent rulings by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland seemed to be perfectly in line with this judgment, since they ruled against a situation where only the ‘yes’ side was represented in a debate and no opportunity was given for someone from the ‘no’ campaign to speak.

Thomas Ryan BL

Mount Tallant Avenue

Harolds Cross

Dublin 6W