Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The idea of the Constitutional Convention, which originally came from the former Tánaiste, Eamon Gilmore, proved to be a very good one. It is a disappointment and a mistake to move away from the inclusive political involvement in that, because the interaction of professional politicians and general citizens was good for both sides. People came with an open mind.

I do not agree that we should have two or three referendums, as though we have just lined up a list of things to do, and I ask the Taoiseach's view on it. What all of us who have been knocking on doors in referendums know, and if the experience of Brexit for the past few weeks indicates anything, is that we should be careful about what questions we put to people. They should be issues of moment and substance, and if we are going to make changes, particularly to the Constitution, we should have a good and convincing reason.

Finally, it is clear that when there is a major event such as a presidential election taking place in conjunction with a referendum, as was the case with the first referendum we held on parliamentary inquiries, it overshadows the referendum to the extent that there is no real engagement with the issue. In addition, where an important referendum is in the public mind together with a less important one, there is no real debate about the less important one. We must be very careful in how we proceed on referendums, and I would not be in favour of simply saying, "Let us have a plethora of them. Let us list them every three months." Unless there is a convincing and compelling reason to undertake a democratic process of this nature, we should not be embarking upon it.

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