Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)

The basis behind this Bill is not, as has been presented by many of its opponents, to force the Government to delay the treaty vote. Its purpose is to amend the Referendum Act 1994 to allow the Government and, in particular, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, to change the date in question. It is a very simple operation to do that and this Bill could go through the House within hours, being a very short Bill with one purpose alone. It could also go through the Seanad within hours and could allow the Government to have that facility.

What amazes me is that the Government is refusing an enabling Bill. We know that as of now, as a matter of policy, it has set its face against delaying the referendum. What is astonishing is its refusal to take the powers to change the date, by ministerial order if that proves necessary. Events are moving very fast in Europe at present and it may be both necessary and wise to change the date of the referendum. I do not understand why the Government picked 31 May as the date for the referendum in the first place. There was no necessity to pick this date. There may have been a political imperative of which we are not aware but it would have been much more sensible if the Government, being aware of those events that were about to occur, were to have stated it would delay this particular referendum and, if it were not really a matter for delay, that it would pick a date when things had cleared up, when the French presidential and Assembly elections were over and the dust had settled on some very important arguments taking place about the ratification of the treaty. These are still going on and have not even got off the ground at this stage.

Why did the Government pick 31 May? Why did it lock itself into a situation like this, which became immutable when introduced and which did not take into account the French elections? Let us look at some of the events Happening in the coming days. Tomorrow night there will be an informal summit of European leaders, an emergency meeting, called specifically because of the change of government in France and because M. Hollande, the new President, has demanded either changes in the treaty or a parallel growth pact to be part of the same package. However, the Taoiseach has stated there will probably be no definite results from this so-called getting-to-know-you meeting. M. Hollande has to go back to Paris before 17 June and deliver some concrete changes or proposals that he can sell to the electorate, arising from the promises he made during the election. That will happen. He has definitely stated, as his Finance Minister stated last week and has not withdrawn, that he will not sign the treaty as is. Yet we are going ahead with a referendum, riding into the danger that the treaty will be postponed or changed in the next month. That is folly; it is foolish. Even if it is not changed in text, it will be part of a package of changes which will include a possible growth pact.

What surprises me so much about the attitude of the Minister and the Government is that if M. Hollande gets his way and gets a growth pact that would be good for Ireland. It would make it better and more likely that the Government would get this treaty passed because it could sell it as part of what it has championed in recent months. The resistance to this change is silly, pig-headed and stubborn. It is also politically stupid. The Government should think again about it.

Ratification has taken place in only three nations. The Germans are holding back and so are the French and all the other nations of Europe. Meanwhile, the euro is in turmoil, Europe is in turmoil and the situation in Greece, Spain and Italy is changing. Yet we insist on going ahead with this folly when we could easily postpone it until the end of December.

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