Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

On 17 February I asked the Taoiseach in the House if it was intended to hold a referendum or referenda during 2004. In his reply he said the Government "has no proposals at present to hold a referendum to change the Constitution". On 14 January, more than a month before that, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government notified the Department of Finance that there were strong indications that a further ballot paper would be required for polling on 11 June and that additional e-voting machines had been procured.

Can the Taoiseach explain why that information would have been in the Departments of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Finance more than a month before he replied to my question of 17 February? He made no reference to this information nor admission or indication of such consideration, let alone of a decision. Was it not disingenuous at best of the Taoiseach not to have referred to that information which must have been available to him?

Does the Taoiseach not accept that, in light of the continual requests of the All-Party Committee on the Constitution for comprehensive consultation and legislative scrutiny of all constitutional referenda proposals, the Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill should have been referred to that committee in the first instance as a matter of best practice? Does he agree that it is unacceptable that this matter has bypassed an Oireachtas committee and moved ahead to a referendum without consultation?

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