HIGH COURT judge Frank Clarke has been appointed to chair the Referendum Commission for the Lisbon Treaty referendum, which will be held in the first week of October.
The appointment of the commission was announced yesterday by Minister for the Environment John Gormley, following publication of the Referendum Bill on the 28th Amendment to the Constitution.
Mr Justice Clarke has been nominated as chair of the commission by Chief Justice John Murray. The other members of the commission are Comptroller and Auditor General John Buckley, Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly, clerk of the Dáil Kieran Coughlan, and clerk of the Seanad Deirdre Lane.
The principal function of the commission, under the terms of the Referendum Act, 1998, is to prepare a statement containing a general explanation of the subject matter of the referendum proposal on the Lisbon Treaty.
The commission is required to publish this statement and distribute it to the electorate, promote awareness of the referendum and encourage the electorate to vote.
In addition, the commission will consider and rule on applications from bodies or groups for declaration as approved bodies who may appoint agents at the referendum to be present at polling stations and at the counting of votes.
The Referendum Bill will be debated in the Dáil today and will go to the Seanad tomorrow. The date of the referendum, which is expected to be October 1st or 2nd, will be announced during the Dáil debate today.
As well as getting information about the Lisbon Treaty from the Referendum Commission, voters will also receive an explanatory leaflet from the Government on the issue.
The text of this statement was approved by the Cabinet yesterday after a briefing from Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin about its contents.
The Minister will today publish a White Paper on the Lisbon Treaty to coincide with the debate on the Referendum Bill.