Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the announcement yesterday of a referendum. It needed to be put to the people and, thankfully, the Attorney General has agreed. Deputy Breen referred to having an honest debate. We should start by saying that the Government did everything in its power to ensure there would not be a referendum on the issue. The Tánaiste said at a recent committee meeting that people were working to ensure this would not go to a referendum and reports from Europe suggested the same. The negotiating position of the Government on this makes it clear that the last thing it wanted was a referendum. It was no surprise to see the expression on their faces yesterday. Like the previous speaker, I welcome the fact that the announcement was made in the Chamber. That is the right way to do business. The fact that the Opposition got eight minutes notice is irrelevant; at least the announcement was made in the Chamber. Maybe there is a learning curve for the Government and next time we will receive more notice.

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