The National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) has said it will petition the President, Mrs McAleese, to refer to the Supreme Court the Bill banning public opinion polls seven days before an election.
The NNI said the Bill was repugnant to the Constitution, particularly Article 40.6.1, which guarantees the right of citizens to express opinions.
The NNI said it was exploring all legal and constitutional avenues to stop the implementation of the ban, should it be passed by both Houses. The ban removed basic rights and should not be tolerated, the NNI added.
"Irish citizens must ask themselves why our elected representatives feel so threatened by the free flow of information at the time of an election that they have rushed through this amendment to the Electoral Bill without allowing any form of public debate or consultation," a statement from the NNI said.
No such ban existed in Western democracies, and the right to have free access to information was a basic right, it added.
The NNI called on the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, members of the Government and the Oireachtas to reflect upon their actions and refrain from going ahead with the ban.
Prof Michael Laver, professor of politics at Trinity College Dublin, said the legislation could arguably prevent politicians from asking people's opinions at doorsteps during canvassing before an election.
While European countries which had experienced totalitarian regimes had banned the publication of polls before an election, only China and North Korea had banned the conducting of them, he said.
The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, called on the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to publish all the advice available to the Government on the issue.
Mr Seamus Dooley, national organiser of the National Union of Journalists, said he was baffled at the priority given to the Bill before the Dail summer recess.
A website called P45.net, which allows users to publish their opinions, said it would mount a legal challenge to the Bill if it became law.
The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, said most politicians of all political parties, "irrespective of what they say publicly", were in favour of having a period of time before an election free of opinion polls.
"That debate has been around for the best part of 10 years or more. I personally am very for the idea of having a period of time where people have a period of reflection and there are no opinion polls," he said.
"Many other countries have a ban on them. I'd say people would accept that the most egalitarian and free society is France, and France has had a ban on the publication of opinion polls during elections for many years,"