Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The fact that there have been more public consultations on the content of referenda is a positive development. The referendum to abolish the Seanad failed because it was seen as a party political objective as opposed to one that was necessarily good for the country. The people saw sense in terms of maintaining a second, Upper, House to have the proper articulation of views, views independent of the Government in many instances.

In respect of the eighth amendment, it seems that the key determinant is the Oireachtas committee that has just been established in terms of both the timing and the content. Let us be honest. The content will be central to whatever proposition is ultimately put to the people. There will be varying degrees of interest around the committee. That will be the challenging part in terms of the process and a workable proposition to be put to the people because it is an issue on which the people deserve to be consulted and have their say. The precise nature of the question will be the difficult part of this. It was our view all along that we wanted this to be considered by the Oireachtas in advance of the Citizens Assembly.

We would have preferred for the Oireachtas to start working on it much earlier. As it is, we now have the recommendations from the Citizens' Assembly. The Oireachtas committee will have to work on that and then the issue has to be put to the people.

The Taoiseach mentioned the European patent court as necessitating a potential referendum. That is economically important and I would appreciate if the Taoiseach could indicate to me what is the up-to-date position. Has the Government set priority on the other referendums that the Taoiseach identified and referred to, apart from for one on the eighth amendment?

On the Dáil debate on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, last week following a Private Members' motion that we tabled, along with other issues pertaining to enterprise, if one talks to small and medium-sized companies, they actually see benefits to be derived from CETA from new jobs-----

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