Sarah Harte: How can voters make informed choices without sufficient information?

Referenda are to some extent blunt devices in that complex questions must be distilled to a yes or a no. Therefore, any issue being put to us must be explained clearly and comprehensively, writes Sarah Harte.

Ms Justice Marie Baker (right), Chair of An Coimisiún Toghcháin, speaking with Maura Kerrigan (left) and Rita Varian about the referenda at Ballyphehane Day Centre.

OK, so it’s 10 days to the referendum votes on March 8, and it seems patently clear that a significant proportion of the population don’t know what they are being asked to vote on.

I have been contacted by several friends asking which way they should vote on both the family amendment and the care amendment. Busy, intelligent people not grasping the questions being posed, as they are being presented to them, and that’s no slur on them.