Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

On the last question, legal issues arose which have now by and large been resolved. The Attorney General was directly involved in those issues and the questions raised have been resolved. If the consultations have not taken place, they are due to take place soon. The Bill is listed for this session and the Minister for Health and Children is anxious that it be dealt with in this session.

On the first question, the Government's intention is to get agreement on the stages. There will be a memorandum for Government on the referendum Bill. The commission will be established after that. The Government's view is that we move on it this side of the summer, if that is agreed. We must ensure agreement on it. We have clarified that the comprehensive children's issue cannot be taken, and there appears to be all-party agreement on that. Deputy Howlin and Deputy Shatter have made it clear and the Minister, Deputy Smith, has reported that to me. What remains is Deputy Kenny's suggestion that we decouple the segment from it. We have to find out if that is possible and whether we can get all-party agreement on it. It is not a simple issue either; there are arguments about it. If we can do that, we can proceed but we must get the work programme moving quickly because there will only be a little over four months.

If that cannot be done, we can proceed with the referendum anyway. We are preparing the referendum Bill and obviously will have consultations on it. The White Paper is in train and the Minister, Deputy Roche, has been active in talking to various groups and presenting the case on behalf of the Government. He has talked to Members of the Opposition as well. If we could resolve the decoupling issue, we could finalise the date. However, I do not wish to do that until we have agreement following the consultations I promised.

See this speech in context