Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Following on from Deputy Kenny's question, the Minister of State told the House last night where he is in terms of his preparation for the referendum. From his comments, I understood there to be no significant issue in respect of the wording to be used in the referendum. He seemed to accept that the wording agreed by the all-party committee was substantially the wording that should appear in the referendum. If this is the case, there does not appear to be any impediment to the holding of the referendum this year.

On European issues, for example, the Government has tabled amendments quite soon after the conclusion of complex negotiations at European level. Several times, the Government has brought forward referenda that none of us was expecting and ran them with elections held at different times. This is a referendum on which we are all agreed. A motion before the House will be voted on tonight. We could agree the motion if the Taoiseach assured the House that the referendum will be held some time in 2010. I invite him again to give this assurance.

After this week, six sitting weeks are left before the Government closes the House down for the summer. Will the Bill to provide for a directly elected mayor of Dublin be before the House in those six weeks?

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