The new independent commission being established to disseminate both sides of the argument in future referendums will be provided with £2.5 million to present information to the public on the Amsterdam Treaty.
The commission will not be permitted to provide funding for campaigning groups.
The Bill for the establishment of the commission will be brought before the Dail "by next week", the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, said yesterday when it was published.
It will be law before the referendum on the Amsterdam Treaty later this year to pave the way for EU enlargement.
Introducing the legislation, the Minister said the commission would be a completely independent body regulating its own affairs and accepting submissions from interested parties in the preparation of material for public consumption.
Mr Dempsey said such a body was the fairest method of meeting the requirements of the Supreme Court judgment in the McKenna constitutional case. The court ruled that State funds could not be used in a partisan way in any referendum campaign.
Responding to the Bill's publication, the Green Party spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr John Gormley, described it as "seriously flawed" and said it did not address funding and spending concerns that resulted in the original McKenna case.
According to the Minister, because of the time constraints and complexities of the Amsterdam Treaty, the Government had approved the establishment of the commission on a non-statutory basis pending legislation and the spending of £2.5 million on its promotional work.
A former Supreme Court judge or a serving or former judge of the High Court will be nominated by the Chief Justice to chair the new body. The Comptroller and Auditor General, the Ombudsman and the clerks of the Dail and the Seanad make up the rest of the commission.
Its principal function will be to prepare statements explaining the subject matter of a referendum proposal and to set out the arguments for and against such plans. Meanwhile, the prohibition contained in existing legislation regarding the broadcasting of political advertisements will not apply to promotions sponsored by the commission. It will also be empowered to ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands to direct the RTE Authority or the IRTC to make broadcasting time available.
A Labour Party spokesman expressed surprise that the Government had taken so long to publish a straightforward piece of legislation setting up a body to oversee the publication of information on future referendums. However, he welcomed the development, saying the McKenna judgment demanded such a system to ensure fair play and equality of treatment.