Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I appreciate Deputy Jim O'Keeffe's views because he has been an eminent member of the Constitution review group for many years and I would not discount anything he says. We must make this judgment soon. Deputy O'Keeffe will agree, however, that one of the big problems surrounding EU referendums is to bring out a respectable size of electorate. We must make a call on this. The issues are beginning to crystallise quite well. We know our constitutional limitations in the EU reform treaty, which must be held in 2008, and we can be certain of that after Thursday. The committee will do all it can to complete its work but it will be a tight call for it to get its work finished and the referendum through before summer. I will try to discuss this with the party leaders before Christmas and we will make a decision then.

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