Court ruling on 'Yes' campaign shouldn't distract from core argument - Smith

Sean McMahon A local TD has insisted that the Supreme Court ruling today on the Government's €1.1 million spend on its referendum campaign should not distract voters from the core value of the Yes side's arguments. The Supreme Court this morning found in favour of Dublin engineer Mark McCrystal's argument that "extensive passages" in a Government sponsored information about this weekend's Children's Referendum breeched the 1995 Supreme Court 'McKenna case' judgment. This ruling required referendum to be explained to the public impartially. Mr McCrystal was quoted saying: "The McKenna judgment was very clear to protect the rights of Irish people and also put a limit on the way the government behaves. "There has been a great slip in that area in the wrong direction, hopefully the government have paid proper attention to this judgment today." Enoch Burke of the Campaign for Consceince, which is advocating a 'No' vote, responded to the judgement by calling on Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Frances Fitzgerald to resign and the government to halt the referendum. "This response would be the only possible one in keeping with the ethos of the Constitution. Members of the public have already observed that many of the electorate voted in full trust of the government, such as those on outlying islands. That trust has now been betrayed. It must be restored by restitution." Former Children's Minister, Deputy Brendan Smith established the all party Oireachtas Committee and worked on finding consensus in regard to a wording for the referendum. Reacting to the Supreme Court's findings, Deputy Smith told The Anglo-Celt: "This should not distract us from the core and important issues of this referendum and the reason for a 'Yes' vote. "The important issue before all of us on Saturday is that we ensure that we have a resounding 'Yes' vote. "I am very conscious of the need for all of us who are in favour of a 'Yes' vote, to continue to work together, until the polls close at 10pm on Saturday night". He added that it is really the next in a line of stepsthat have been taken to improve child protection. "We cannot be distracted from the important work of getting the message out that we need a Yes vote", said Deputy Smith.