Mr. Barry Andrews:

I am nervous about referendums in general. It is hard to speculate. One would have to be careful about the wording. Sometimes other issues that are live at the time infect the decision-making process. We have seen that in our neighbouring country where they decided to leave the European Union on the basis of a referendum, 52% to 48%. It is a very imperfect way of making laws. I have confidence in the democratic powers of scrutiny of this committee, the Dáil and Seanad. I do not believe in a referendum being the solution all the time whereas sometimes it is, of course, necessary. We have had a good history of referendums in Ireland in recent times. The triple lock is no longer fit for purpose. I said that in my submission earlier. We cannot ignore the new geopolitical situation. We have changed a lot of things since the Lisbon treaty. For the European Union, I have to report that we are seeing an extraordinary change in approach. It is not out of a desire for militarisation; it is a desire to ensure the security and peace of Europe at a time when there is a war on the European continent we cannot ignore.