Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I must also mention what is useful for us. To be honest, there is very wide agreement in this committee but the information we do not have is on the questions or concerns that the Government has, including from the Attorney General and others. This is why we have constitutional experts who are coming to meet with the committee and who have spoken to us. We have legal experts on the committee. The key point is that we do not want a situation where we give a specific wording, the Government then says that there is a technical problem from the Attorney General's perspective with this one wording, and then it all gets kicked to touch again. This is why we have given options. It is not because there is disagreement within the committee. There was a very strong collective general direction of travel from this committee. We have been trying to anticipate what concerns the Taoiseach might have but we have not had any input from the Government around what it is considering.

Reference was made to the Referendum Commission. The other part of the policy is ensuring that our social protection policies and other revenue policies are reviewed for the consequences of the referendum and are prepared for advance in a constructive and positive way.