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FORMER JUSTICE MINISTER and current Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan has said the government should have published the advice of the Attorney General in relation to the referendums.
On Thursday, a day before voters went to the polls, The Ditch published an article containing the leaked advice from Rossa Fanning on the proposed care amendment to O’Gorman.
While some politicians have since criticised the leak, Flanagan said the “real issue” is the “refusal and failure by government to publish the advice for clarity and purpose”.
The advice from Fanning to Minister Roderic O’Gorman stated that there is a “lack of guidance from the courts” on how the word ‘strive’ in the Care amendment would be interpreted.
Regarding the family referendum, Fanning said that in the absence of clear guidance within the constitutional text or by way of legislation, “it is difficult to predict with certainty how the Irish courts would interpret the concept of ‘other durable relationships”.
The Family amendment was rejected by 67.7% of voters, while the Care amendment was rejected by 73.9%.
Minister of State Mary Butler said the leak was a “huge concern” and described it as “absolutely scandalous”.
She noted that on the day it was leaker, a broadcast moratorium had been in place from midday.
The broadcast moratorium doesn’t extend to online media, and Butler told RTÉ’s This Week programme that “we’re certainly going to have to look” at a social media moratorium “going forward”.
In a statement yesterday, The Ditch said it will not apologise for “acting in the public interest” and added that if the move was scandalous, “it was a scandal caused by the government’s refusal to publish the advice in the first place”.
In a post on X, former Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said: “The real issue here is not the leak of the Attorney General advice but the refusal and failure by government to publish the advice of the AG for clarity and purpose as (then-Taoiseach) Garret FitzGerald had done in the 1983 referendum when he published (then-AG) Peter Sutherland’s advice.”
The real issue here is not the leak of the A.G advice but the refusal & failure by government to publish the advice of the A.G. for clarity & purpose as Garret FitzGerald had done in the 1983 referendum when he published Peter Sutherland’s advice. https://t.co/v2GiKn2uTi
— Charlie Flanagan (@CharlieFlanagan) March 10, 2024
Louise Crowley, professor of family law at University College Cork, also agreed that the Attorney General’s advice should have been published in advance.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, she said “there was an information and a clarity gap”.
“People like myself tried to fill it, but there were a lot of other voices suggesting that ‘durable relationships’ could mean all kinds of things, which I don’t think is actually true.
“Clarity wasn’t there for people going out to vote, and if the clarity isn’t there, you’re more inclined to vote no.”
Crowley supported the proposed changes and said this was a “wonderful opportunity to address two or three issues in our Constitution”.
“It could have been quite an emphatic Yes/Yes but for the way it was presented and also unfortunately some of the scare-mongering that was put out there,” she added.
She added that there was unnecessary “confusion and a lack of clarity”.
She also said that if the amendments were “presented in a different way”, there could have been a Yes/Yes vote.
For example, Crowley said the insertion of the term “durable relationships” in the family amendment “caused confusion and brought in suggestions that wouldn’t have any founding in law, but people weren’t to know that”.
Other news sites are reporting he pulled the knife and shouted allahu akbar. He did it in front of soldiers so is lucky to be alive. Good work to all involved. One less headbanger on the streets.
@Honeybadger197: on french news it’s being reported that he was a psychiatric patient who was released two days ago, it is true that he pushed his way through the first security screening and then pulled a knife in front of the military but when asked the first time to put his knife down he complied and was arrested, he’s being held awaiting another psychological review but the reports of him saying ‘allahou akbar’ are supposedly false, it’s just being reported as mentally ill patient on french sites.
@Boeing Lover: I’m certainly glad nobody was injured.
Cultural enrichment. We need more of these doctors and engineers.
He was a Muslim terrorist shouting “Allah Akbar”. thejournal is sinking to new lows in fake news by not reporting this.
And yes, I say “fake news” as the author so blatantly and willfully ignoring the most pertinent of readily available facts in the article is done solely to misrepresent the incident as possibly something other than Islamic terrorism.
@Mike: Evidence Mike? Any evidence at all?
@Ian Walsh: I presume you mean evidence of “Allah Akbar” being shouted. It’s being reported widely in the French media. Lefigaro for instance. You’re as bad as AFP so called journos if you can’t find this stuff without asking for help.
@Mike: I acknowledge you’re probably not used to citing sources, Mike, but they do serve a purpose. For example, if you cited ‘Hareetz’, ‘JPost’, ‘Times of Israel’, or any mainstream American media outlet about an attacker with a knife that shouts ‘Allah Akbar’ you might as well be citing the beano.
For instance, you quoted your source in saying the man shouted ‘Allah Akbar’. If that is a direct quote then we can safely say the source is incorrect as ‘Allah Akbar’ doesn’t make sense in Arabic. The problem with most Western sources on matters like this is that their ignorance usually turns out to be their own downfall.
Just to give another example – when a media outlet chooses to get their information about Syria from a man who lives in Coventry and hasn’t been in Syria for the last 13 years, then the media outlet in question stops being credible.
@Guybrush Threepwood: Hope this helps. The direct quote is: “allahu akbar” – you knew this anyway. http://m.france24.com/en/20170806-france-paris-armed-knife-sparks-evacuation-eiffel-tower-security-terrorism
You’ll probably need to run a background check on the owners of France24 in case you can introduce more deflections. Its owned by the French Government via a holding company called France Médias Monde. Best of luck!
@Honeybadger197: I love the fact that you interpreted my post as an argument for the implication that he didn’t shout ‘Allahu Akbar’…or indeed that what he shouted or didn’t shout was the point. To say that yours is a very defensive response would be quite the understatement.
@Honeybadger197: But I do find your notion of credibility and assurance rests on if its owned by the French government or not quite cute.
@Guybrush Threepwood: Lol. Whatever. You queried a quote based on a misspelling. The sermon on media that followed was interesting insofar as it says more about you than the beano. Only news that reflect and confirm your views are correct, right? Disappointed you didn’t offer any insights into France24/FMM/ French Government though. You seem very truthy. Don’t keep it from us!
@Honeybadger197: Jaysus, I think I’ve stumbled upon a true White Knight. Honestly don’t see how you could’ve taken offence to my post. Keep defending the realm though. Snowflakes make great theatre!
@Guybrush Threepwood: Is that it? I was hoping for more unsolicited guidance :)
@Honeybadger197: Thanks for clearing that up for him;-)
@Mike: as was stated early it was a 19 year old French person who had been recently released from a psychiatric hospital
That could only come as a shock to Honeybadger and Mike. After reading that I’m guessing they’ve already scurried off to another article that will offend them.
A disgruntled Barcelona supporter?
@Emmet Dillane: Allah les bleu
Phew,at least it wasn’t a Celtic top,others here would be eststic
@billy Dorney: Not ecstatic by any means. Their supporters chanting about the British soldier who was almost decapitated by 2 Daesh affiliates was a new low though.
@billy Dorney: estatic
@Honeybadger197: never heard it,not a Brit lover, having lived in Derry for 20 years,but ppl who chant that crap aren’t true football supporters,or republican, hopefully it’s a minority
@billy Dorney: 100% agree.
Let’s hope he was not handled ‘too roughly’ or hurt in anyway by security when tackled with that knife!!!
Vive la France.
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