Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

That is a fair summary of what I stated. If we are to hold the two referendums together, it means the work has to be done as speedily as possible. It seems to me a large amount of work has been done and the Minister of State, Deputy Smith, advises me that the committee will take until the end of April. Then a referendum Bill will have to be passed, but it is really a matter of how to schedule the timetable. If that is not done, then the commitment of every party leader in the House will have been broken, not just mine, that this issue would be dealt with within a year. I do not believe the NGOs, which comprise a large number of organisations from all over the country, would be upset if that commitment was broken by a few months. However, it would be a different position if it were to be broken by a few years, and that is not desirable. I shall do everything I can, but I need the co-operation of everybody to try to deal with these two issues together. The fact is that we have given a commitment for one to be finished around Easter, and that is not possible. The other we have to deal with in 2008, because of the EU implications. Some degree of effort is therefore required from the children's committee, which I know has just started work in this regard, as well as from the House, to deal with the two issues. It would be better if we could deal with them together.

See this speech in context