A leading opponent of the Lisbon Treaty is to take legal advice on whether the Government is misusing public funds to support the 'yes' side in the forthcoming referendum.
Patricia McKenna, chairperson of the People's Movement, which is opposing the treaty, told RTÉ News she believes the Government is showing 'complete contempt' for decisions by the Supreme Court on this issue.
In 1995, when she was a Green Party MEP, Ms McKenna won a Supreme Court case which banned the use of State funds to promote one side in a referendum campaign.
But this afternoon, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said the Government's 'strong' legal advice from the Attorney General was that the McKenna judgment did not apply until referendum legislation had been passed by the Dáil and Seanad, and signed into law by the President.
Minister Ahern acknowledged that some organisations took a more conservative view, but that was the legal advice the Government was operating under.
Ms McKenna pointed to the production of a leaflet by the Department of Foreign Affairs, which she said was very much on the yes side, as one example of the use of State funds before the referendum campaign begins.
In a statement this evening, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern completely rejected any suggestion that State funds were being used to advocate any outcome to the Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Mr Ahern said that his Department's website and leaflet only explained the content of the treaty, and outlined the Government's position with regard to it.
