Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I have nothing further to add to what I said in reply to Deputy Kenny. The all-party committee has given urgent consideration to this issue. It has received written and oral submissions, held public hearings and will shortly make recommendations in its report. The Government also examined these matters in considerable detail last year. The Deputy will be aware that most of those who spoke on this issue have been opposed to anything I have said on it. While it is not an easy matter to deal with, it should be dealt with when we have the report of the all-party committee.

The Deputy made a point about Deputy Sargent's question. The point with which I was agreeing was that many of the recommendations for constitutional change can be quite legalistic by their nature. What Deputy Sargent and I were referring to was the campaign to explain those issues in a manageable way. We held referenda during the previous Dáil on the International Criminal Court and other matters. Few members of the public understood the issues. My point concerned the educational information process in that regard. One cannot have referenda all the time. One must try to group the issues.

The Presidency was the subject of the third report. Recommendations have been made, but I do not think that there is any constitutional issue. The report concerned age and there were several examinations of issues such as whether the office of President should continue to exist, external relations, whether there should be direct elections, and whether the procedure for nominating presidential candidates was too restrictive. All these matters were examined along with various other issues concerning the Presidential Commission. However, no referendum is planned, and it is not necessary. I am not sure whether the franchise — who can vote on such issues — was addressed in that report. To the best of my knowledge, it was not.

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