Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The Prime Minister Mr. Blair did not go to Moscow that weekend because that was when he appointed his Cabinet and other Ministers. I have spoken to him by telephone and he has reiterated his commitment to making progress on the North and to give time and effort to it. He has a series of meetings this week and next week with the Northern Ireland parties. That engagement has been re-established. Now on the other side of the British general election, all parties are back into a series of meetings and actions. Nothing extraordinary has happened yet. I hope we will back into dialogue. The Government is anxious to make progress before the summer. The summer in Northern Ireland comes early as July and August are always dead months for negotiations.

We hope to bring legislation on the EU constitution to the House shortly. This will help in making the information process on the constitution and the Referendum Commission operational. I am anxious to do this with the co-operation of all party leaders. I have not made any decision on the date but we are working on it. The explanatory memorandum has already been circulated. The constitution is available on several websites and also on demand from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the European Commission offices. A White Paper is being prepared which it is hoped to have ready for next month. It will be circulated to every household. We have not finalised the date on this.

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