Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I want to raise three issues, two of which follow on from what the Taoiseach said earlier. Am I correct to assume with certainty that there will be a second Lisbon treaty referendum in the last quarter of this year? If that is the case, the Taoiseach probably will be aware that the Referendum Commission stated in its report that it would need far greater time than it had to familiarise itself with the topic and disseminate information.

I understand that at the moment the legislation provides that the commission must be established within 90 days of the publication of the referendum Bill. The commission's report mentioned a term twice as long as that. Does the Taoiseach agree that it may be important to set up the Referendum Commission, if that is the model which will be used to disseminate information? Does he agree it should be set up sooner rather than later and that we should not wait until June when we will have received the guarantees?

Did the issue of Sudan and the expulsion of aid agencies from it come up at the Council meeting? If it did, what measures, if any, have we taken to ensure aid is available in Sudan?

On the previous subject Deputy Ó Caoláin mentioned, does the Taoiseach agree that perhaps we in this House could serve this difficult situation better? Instead of groups such as the Friends of Israel and the Friends of Palestine, perhaps we could look at setting up a Friends of Israel and Palestine group. Every political party here agrees with the two-state solution. Rather than placing the emphasis on division we should place it on the common ground that exists and try to come up with a common position on the problem.

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