Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I will describe the legislative intentions. The referendum Bill is being finalised and I expect this to be published before the end of this week. It is then intended that the sub-committee of the Joint Committee on European Affairs will deal with issues relating to the treaty over a two week period or thereabouts. When the Dáil resumes it is intended to bring the referendum Bill into the House to be debated and then it will move to the Seanad. The process should be completed by the end of April which will then allow sufficient time for the referendum to be held.

With regard to the general European treaty amendments, the ESM, and the fiscal responsibility Bill, it is intended that those pieces of legislation will be published prior to the referendum being held but it is not envisaged that they would be enacted prior to the referendum being held.

On the question of a White Paper, the Government did not consider that a White Paper was necessary on this occasion because the treaty is relatively short. The Government intends to arrange for information to be provided to households to ensure an understanding of the treaty. Deputy Martin made the point that this information should be in simple language.

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