Former Attorney General Michael McDowell has attacked the Government over a failure to make public interdepartmental discussions about the implications of the upcoming referendums.

He said he had been refused access to 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 allowances and laws in relation to family reunification for asylum seekers.

Roderic O’Gorman’s Department said in withholding records of 16 meetings to allow access would be “premature” and might affect “the integrity and viability of the referendums”, which Mr McDowell said was a “flawed” decision.

“The Department apparently wishes to suppress all information in the minutes of the cross-Departmental meetings until after the people have voted,” he said.

He went on: “The Department’s decision perverts the democratic process which requires giving the people all the facts before they vote in a referendum.”