Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

Concerns regarding the Good Friday Agreement merit careful consideration. We must remember that the proposed provision amends Article 9 of the Constitution and not Article 2. I am confident, arising from the legal advice given to the Government, the Northern Ireland Office and the Government at Westminster, that the amendment has no implications for the Agreement. It is important that we be satisfied this is the case. Many people have expressed reservations on this score. Some parties, predictably, see a political opportunity. This is particularly true of the Democratic Unionist Party whose agenda includes the renegotiation of the Good Friday Agreement. That party's bleatings in this regard are politically and historically predictable.

The public will be genuinely concerned at the misgivings expressed by the Social Democratic and Labour Party. That party has not put forward any legal advice to suggest that the proposed amendment impacts on the Good Friday Agreement. Its spokespersons have complained about the lack of consultation rather than about the issue itself. If the SDLP is dissatisfied with the manner in which it has been consulted by the two Governments on this issue there is an onus on the Government to address that dissatisfaction. That onus does not extend to changing course on a constitutional amendment which is clearly required, has no implications for the Agreement and requires to be dealt with in the interests of this nation and of the EU.

I understand the frustration felt by many in the SDLP at the manner in which they were sidelined in the run-up to the elections in the North when Unionist parties and Sinn Féin became central to negotiations and pressure from the two Governments. They have a fair argument when they say that emphasis on Sinn Féin and the Unionists sidelined the SDLP and made it seem less important to the electorate. That is an issue which the SDLP must raise with the British Government. In view of the failure to move forward in Northern Ireland since the election, the SDLP leadership may feel it has been vindicated in its view that it is more central to progress in Northern Ireland than had been realised or admitted. That is an entirely separate issue and has nothing to do with the provisions of the proposed constitutional amendment.

The timing of the referendum has attracted much criticism. Members of Opposition parties have claimed that the Government is likely to gain political advantage in the local and European elections from the timing of the referendum. I find no evidence of that. I have been canvassing with local and European election candidates and I have not encountered a single citizen who has raised the referendum issue. They have raised many other issues. The kind of people I am meeting seem to be sufficiently intelligent to make their decisions in the European and local elections on the basis of the individual candidates and the parties and to proceed to make their own decisions with regard to the referendum on citizenship.

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