Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

No, there is no constitutional change required. The Attorney General stated that we have to look to the base of legislation to see if there are similar legislative matters that would fall into the same category as that judgment, and that process is under way.

On the Deputy's third question, clearly there is a role to try to ensure that there is as much understanding of the constitutional treaty as possible. This has been done here in the course of debate and by the committees of the House as well as by the Forum on Europe. I do not think there is any other initiative we can bring forward, but I accept that we should all work to this end.

I am always open to looking at ways of bringing forward issues of this nature to the understanding of people as early as possible because, if I understand the Deputy's point, the more people understand the issues and the more debate that takes place on them, the greater the awareness of what people are asked to make a decision on. This applies not only in the EU constitutional issue, which thankfully this time is not as difficult as some of the previous constitutional issues around European matters. However, many of the other areas are quite complex as well. The judgments that bring these issues forward are legally complex. This is the case even for people who are used to looking at legislation or those working in administrative jobs; it is extremely complex and the legal points are quite complex. Even the formula for questions that are put to the people is complex. I agree with the Deputy that it creates much confusion and requires understanding and programmes for explanation.

On several of the other matters that are in consideration arising from the eight reports we have had to date, we have looked at how we might put these together in blocks as it would build up a good reservoir of information. Many of the issues are extremely complex. While we are looking at how they might be grouped, it is not easy to do so as it could lead to more confusion. At the same time, we cannot have referenda every second month. If we are to put issues to the people in blocks, we must put in place an educational process that is better than the one that currently exists.

See this speech in context