Chai Brady
Concerns have been raised after a social media post critical of a pro-life statement from a bishop emerged apparently from a senior executive at the ad agency running the information campaign on behalf of the Referendum Commission.
The Referendum Commission has charged BBDO Dublin with promoting voter turnout and to explain the referendum proposal in a factual, impartial manner.
This comes as a Twitter account apparently owned by BBDO’s Executive Creative Director, Dylan Cotter, appeared critical of a statement made by Bishop Kevin Doran.
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Linking an article in which Dr Doran said that if abortion was legalised it would pave the way for euthanasia to be legal in Ireland, the tweet read: “Hypocritical old eunuchs talking s**** about the rights of independent young women does a lot more to pave the way for euthanasia to be honest.”
Niamh Uí Bhriain of the Save the 8th campaign said anyone who receives taxpayer funding for a neutral information campaign should be publicly neutral on the issue.
“It would be a matter of concern if any of the directors of an agency is seen tweeting in favour of repealing the Eighth while also being involved in a Government campaign that’s supposed to be neutral,” she said.
“We’ve already seen how biased the process was in regards to the Citizens’ Assembly and the Oireachtas Committee on abortion, and I think the public are getting fed up because of that.”
Social media
Ads for the Referendum Commission’s four-part information campaign will start appearing this week across several platforms including TV, social media, radio and billboards. The second phase of the campaign will begin on April 23.
The Referendum Commission was established by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government at the end of May, and is chaired by High Court Judge Ms Isobel Kennedy.
The other members of the Commission are the Ombudsman, Mr Peter Tyndall; the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr Seamus McCarthy; the Clerk Assistant of the Dáil, Mr Peter Finnegan; and the Clerk of the Seanad, Mr Martin Groves.
Despite repeated attempts, a spokesman for the Commission had not answered questions from this newspaper on the issue at time of printing.