Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On Senator Doherty's points, I ask her to come back to me with the full report as quickly as she possibly can because there is a process there. The role of this Oireachtas committee is to consider the citizens' assembly report on gender equality and bring forward recommendations for Government to bring forward and implement. That is where we are. The final report will be published on 1 December. I would like to see a referendum in 2023. I am always cautious of setting a date and someone coming back on the date and saying that we promised we would have a referendum. I have been through this before. Referendums have been lost through bad preparation, people not being informed properly and people thinking that the wool was being pulled over their eyes. The most dangerous referendums are sometimes those where all the parties are for the issue. Recently, I was reminded of that, but I do not know who brought it up. Tommie Gorman wrote an autobiography recently, which referenced former Minister, Charlie McCreevy, when the Nice referendum went down. His press secretary rang Tommie to say that he had something interesting to say. He was in the Government that promoted the referendum. He announced that it was a very healthy thing that the people of Ireland had voted against all the political parties, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Irish Farmers' Association, which was true Charlie McCreevy style. He said that was a healthy thing in a democracy. The point is that the referendum was lost and we had to go and have a second referendum in the overall scheme of things. My only point is that preparation is important, and I ask the committee to take that in good faith.