A dispute has arisen between opposing sides in the bail referendum campaign, with each camp accusing the other of not portraying the facts.
The exchanges began yesterday after the Right to Bail Campaign (RTBC) issued a leaflet urging the electorate to oppose changes in the right to bail on the grounds that they would amount to internment before trial.
The campaign said the Government wanted changes in existing regulations in the November 28th referendum so that the courts could jail people who a garda thought might commit offences while on bail.
In a sharp attack on the RTBC, Fine Gael's campaign director, Mr Charles Flanagan, accused them of "peddling misinformation and ignorance" and called for the withdrawal of the leaflet.
The Right to Bail Campaign - "which up to now has been supported by senior legal figures" - should be condemned outright for producing deliberately misleading information, he added.
The campaign's leaflet, calling for a No vote, also warned that, if the referendum was passed, the presumption of innocence would be undermined.
Convicted and sentenced prisoners would have to be freed to make way for unconvicted people because the jails were full, drug addiction would be criminalised and there would be more miscarriages of justice like the Birmingham Six, the Guildford Four and Nicky Kelly cases, the campaign argues.
"The Government says bail will only be refused in cases of serious crime. Do you know that this includes stealing a Mars bar and breaking a window?" the RTBC asks.
Innocent people will be imprisoned on suspicion, jailed because politicians have failed, the leaflet states. Alternatives to changes in the bail laws already exist, it adds.
The RTBC calls for court cases to be expedited and for a better use of existing laws, and argues that an adequately resourced programme of drugs education, prevent ion and treatment would do far more to reduce crime.
Mr Flanagan, however, described the leaflet as "beyond belief", saying it was a gross misrepresentation by people who should, and did, know better.
"The No campaign surpass themselves altogether when they suggest that citizens of this State may be jailed without trial for stealing a Mars bar. This is a gross misrepresentation by people who should and do know better and I call on those senior legal figures associated with the campaign to disown this black propaganda," he added.
However, in a statement last night, the RTBC urged Mr Flanagan to read the draft outline of the terms for bail, which clearly included any offence under the Larceny Act.