Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I do not see it arising at the moment but, as the Deputy is aware, a lot of work can take place in two or three weeks if it can be agreed. Whether we can make that degree of progress, where the Presidency can organise a consensus around text which has yet to be presented, remains to be seen.

We had a meeting of the Cabinet sub-committee on Europe last week and I said that we need to move on this as quickly as possible and make progress quickly rather than believe we can just incrementally move along and assume everything will be fine in June. We need to get down to the substance of the issues quickly.

We will consult like-minded parties on the referendum proposals as soon as they take shape and we see what might form the basis of an agreement. However, a lot of work needs to be done.

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