Here are some excerpts from a revealing statement made by Senator Michael McDowell, in which he condemns Roderic O’Gorman’s Department’s FOI Cover Up. Senator McDowell writes: "Minister Roderic O’Gorman’s Department has now decided that it would not be in the 'public interest' to publish the minutes of the government’s Interdepartmental Group meetings which considered the proposed amendments to the Constitution, over the course of the last year 2023" Senator McDowell continues:"The Department has refused access to all 64 pages of notes and minutes discussing the consequences of the amendments including tax laws, social welfare laws, pension laws, allocation of family assets, alimony and allowance including the laws in relation to family reunification for asylum seekers. The withheld records include minutes of 16 meetings of the cross-departmental group. The records also include correspondence with an NGO named ‘Treoir’.” [bolding added] Let me itemise the relevant implications of the passage of the proposed referendums that we, the public, are not being permitted to be informed about: *tax *social welfare *pension *allocation of familly assets *alimony, and, not least *the laws in relation to familly reunification for asylum seekers. Many of the questions those of us on the No side have been asking and not getting answers to were discussed, and we are not considered mature enough to be told the results of those discussons. Senator McDowell continues: "The Department apparently wishes to suppress all information in the minutes of the cross-departmental meetings until after the people have voted in the referendum. Are the people not entitled to know what the Department of Finance sees as the likely consequences for tax and pension law? Are the people not entitled to know what the implications are giving much wider rights for family reunification to asylum seekers and immigrants?" Senator McDowell concludes, "The Department’s decision perverts the democratic process which requires giving the people all the facts before they vote in a referendum. @OHanlonEilis @DavQuinn @davidjthunder @timcrowley_