Mr. Joe Noonan:

There is probably a seminar in that on its own. The Senator will probably have several university departments busy for years answering that question and I say that with all due respect. We really are at the crux here on the question of where power resides. As parliamentarians, committee members understandably feel entrusted, as they are, by the people to make decisions on behalf of the people. I am, however, trying to look at this as a citizen, from a distance. I am as guilty as anybody of thinking we know best and that even if we listen, more or less, to others, we should be able to make the decision for others, but that is not what the constitutional scheme actually provides for in certain respects. That was seen dramatically in the Supreme Court judgment in Crotty, where the Government felt it was entitled to join an increasingly powerful European Union, albeit not called that at the time, in the Single European Act. Crotty went to court and the court agreed with him that the Government was giving away the power to say "Yes" or "No" and that it could not do that without the people's permission. There is always a tension. I am not going beyond saying there is a tension between the popular sovereignty as expressed in the Constitution and what parliamentarians decide to do. It is understandable that Oireachtas Members feel they are entrusted and that, therefore, they are trustworthy, but those things have their limits.