Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The Referendum Commission will bring forward its document which will be circulated, in line with what it normally does, to every household in the country. The resources have been provided for this. The information pamphlet was widely circulated before Christmas through all the usual outlets such as educational institutions. It is also available on the website. Much more information on the reform treaty can be accessed on the website, www.reformtreaty.ie. From the number of hits on the website, it is clearly being used. It is being kept up to date and there is a large amount of information on it. A detailed plain language guide to the reform treaty was published last month by the Department of Foreign Affairs. It is the kind of document for which the Deputy is calling. The White Paper will also be published and the consolidated documents are there for anyone who wants them.

The pamphlet, which is very good, was published prior to Christmas and all the data has been put on the website, www.reformtreaty.ie, while the detailed plain language document is being circulated and has been available for the last month. Finally, there is the White Paper and the legislation with the explanatory guides and the consolidated texts. Therefore, there are five different pieces of information available, while the White Paper will be published shortly. In that list, I have not included the Forum on Europe, which has also produced a very good document and a website. There is a mountain of information and the only problem is that people do not know how much is available.

Regarding the referendum on children's rights, I have been told by the Minister of State, Deputy Smith, that the committee needs until the end of October or possibly even the end of November to complete its report. I know the committee is working hard and hopes to have the report completed by then, and also have the legislation. We will have to wait until 2009 before we can finalise the committee's work in the House. We will then be able to honour the commitment we all made to deal with it.

The designated land Bill is near completion and will be published shortly by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. It deals with the issue of development land being made available for other purposes, such as schools and civic amenities.

In October, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform said he would publish the heads of the civil partnership Bill within six months, and I understand that is due soon. It was based on the Colley options paper and the report of the Law Reform Commission. The scheme proposed is a system that would provide enhanced rights and certainty for cohabiting couples by providing access to a cohabitant's redress scheme and giving protection to the vulnerable party in a same sex or opposite sex relationship, as well as a scheme of registration for same sex partnership. Those are the two issues to which we are committed and that is what the Minister is bringing forward.

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