Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

The Referendum Commission recently confirmed this, stating it was not only in the interest of ensuring public certainty about the polling date but also to ensure there is a robust public debate on the issues.

I remind Deputy Ross that Article 46.2 of the Constitution provides that a constitutional amendment Bill passed by the Oireachtas has to be "submitted by Referendum to the decision of the people in accordance with the law for the time being in force relating to the Referendum". It is clear that the constitutional amendment Bill on the stability treaty must be submitted by referendum to the people, pursuant to that article.

More generally, the Government does not consider a postponement of the referendum to be in the best interest of the country at this stage. As the Tánaiste stated to the House last week, what the country needs now is certainty, not indecision. The Deputy has gone to a lot of trouble in order to create indecision by seeking to have this particular matter postponed.

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