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Campaigners supporting constitutional change to protect children's rights have warned that a broadcasting rule ensuring balanced coverage of the debate could leave voters without all the facts.
A lack of opposition to the proposed reforms could end up limiting how much information is fed to the public in the run-up to the long-awaited referendum on November 10.
Children's Rights Alliance chief executive Tanya Ward said the 50-50 rule demanding an equal amount of broadcasting airtime is given to both sides of the debate could be an issue.
"It's a problem, I think, that there won't be enough people on the No side to get the debate going because people need to understand what the debate is about," she said.
The Alliance of Parents Against the State is among the groups opposed to the reforms, fearing that the Government will be given powers to interfere with the family and rights will be taken away from parents.
Retired Supreme Court judge Catherine McGuinness, who was the first to call for a children's rights referendum following the notorious Kilkenny incest case in 1993, is campaigning alongside the Children's Rights Alliance under the umbrella group Yes for Children.
The group, consisting of the alliance, the ISPCC, Barnardos and Ms McGuinness's Campaign for Children, has argued that the case for constitutional change is undeniable.
National broadcaster RTE will have to arrange an effective response to the McKenna Judgment - the rule demanding 50-50 coverage on a referendum debate - Ms McGuinness said.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny announced last week that the referendum would be held on November 10. The proposed new Article 42a calls for the state to recognise for the first time in the constitution the fundamental rights of all children and to ensure their protection.
The state would have the authority to intervene in neglect cases, regardless of whether their parents are married. A child's own views would also be taken into consideration during child protection proceedings.
