Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The plan, as I understand it, is to publish the Bill this evening and to bring it to the Houses tomorrow. This plan will be discussed with the Business Committee later today. We ask for the support of the other parties in order to ensure that we can introduce the Bill and get the Second Stage debate under way tomorrow.

We are committed to facilitating this but we will also seek the support of other parties to do so. For the information of the House, the Minister, Deputy Murphy, will be in a position to set up the referendum commission from tomorrow. The chair of the commission will be Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, whom the Chief Justice has recommended as an appropriate person to do that job. We are proceeding with the necessary legislation and putting the necessary structures in place to ensure that this referendum can be held before the end of May. We are on schedule to do so even though the timetable is tight. We will seek the co-operation of other parties in the House to ensure we can see this through.

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