Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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When a change to the Constitution is accepted by the people and the Constitution is amended, obviously the constitutional amendment restricts the type of law that can be proposed by the Executive to the Parliament. Moreover, it restricts the type of law that the Parliament can endorse because it must accord with the Constitution which, as I understand from what the Vice Chairman has read, is the principal reason the Deputy's amendment has been ruled out of order. In addition, there is no question of doing anything of which the public was not aware. As the Deputy will recall, the general scheme of the Bill was published in the course of the debate on the treaty.

The public were aware of the detailed legislative consequences if they voted "Yes" in the referendum and the Bill is the legislative consequence.