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Seanad referendum
Fianna Fáil: 'This government is up to something more than just Seanad abolition'
Fianna Fáil has warned about the impact on the Constitution that abolishing the Seanad will have in its final appeal to voters today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok_DEyq6a5I
YouTube: Hugh O’Connell
FIANNA FÁIL HAS issued a final appeal to the Irish public to vote No in tomorrow’s Seanad referendum, warning that the vote is “really about vandalising the Constitution”.
At a press conference in Leinster House today the party’s deputy director of elections, councillor and legal advisor Jim O’Callaghan warned that the vote tomorrow will strip several important articles out of the Constitution.
Citing the removal of articles 18,19, 20, 21, 23, 24 and 27 from the Constitution if there is a Yes vote tomorrow, he warned: “When people see all those things together they realise that this government is up to something more than simply trying to abolish the Seanad.
“This simply isn’t a populist measure, it’s a dangerous measure,” he added.
Earlier, Fine Gael’s director of elections Richard Bruton said there has been “growing engagement” since the campaign got under way and expressed hope for a good turnout but declined to say what that is.
He claimed the party’s social media campaign has reached 800,000 people while Fine Gael said today that 946,000 leaflets have been printed and distributed with 11,000 posters erected.
Bruton also said that the Seanad savings estimated by the party – €20 million per year – are erring “on the conservative side” given that economist Colm McCarthy said savings would be €25 million in a report published three years ago.
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