Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I note that last week a commitment was made to introduce legislation to provide for a constitutional amendment for voting rights for emigrants in a presidential election. The Tánaiste was reported as saying he favoured constitutional change in order that emigrants can be enabled to vote in this country's elections, and initially in a presidential election. Is the Government in a position to provide a timeline for its constitutional reform programme as it is becoming more confusing by the week with the announcements we get? In a presentation from the Taoiseach two weeks ago, he said the Government was committed to changing from 18 to 17 the age at which people could vote and that the term of presidential office would change from seven years to five years. Those two issues - and only those issues - would be considered by the constitutional convention. To be frank, I do not see the necessity of bringing 100 people together just to consider those issues; that is why we are elected. I would have thought the convention could deal with far more substantive issues but they seem to have been put on the long finger.

The Tánaiste has introduced a new issue that was not in the submission to us from the Taoiseach. There is a forthcoming referendum on the EU fiscal compact treaty and I would appreciate the Tánaiste updating us on any Government decision on the time for that. While the Tánaiste seems to be a little more optimistic about the children's rights referendum, we do not get a sense that it will take place this year. The Seanad referendum seems to have been pushed into 2013.

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