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

As I said, my Department is a lead Department here. We are working with other Departments, like the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and, of course, the Department of Justice because we have to set up a new court, but we have to get a referendum passed too. The Deputy and I are around this House long enough to know that passing referendums is not a straightforward process. The most important thing is that we get this passed as soon as we can but also that we do not risk its success by going at the wrong time. There is a likelihood that there will be at least one referendum in the autumn. There is also an opportunity at next year's local and European elections to run some referendums at the same time, when we know we will have a pretty high turnout. I think there is some sense in running this referendum in parallel with the European elections because it is a European issue and a European opportunity for Irish businesses. The most important thing for me is that we get this passed successfully in a referendum. We have two options, and the more likely of those two options is probably with the local and European elections this time next year.

See this speech in context