Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

Given the Government's decision to push ahead with legislation to bring about electronic voting for the June elections without the consensus of all parties, when will the legislation be before the House? When that legislation comes to the House, I intend to use Article 27 of the Constitution to ask a majority of Members in the House and at least a third of the Members in the other House to petition the President not to sign this Bill and to put it to the people by way of referendum.

As the Leader well knows, Article 27 has never been used since the founding fathers of our State enacted the Constitution. However, I believe that the use of this article is appropriate because it refers specifically to issues of fundamental national importance. We should ask the President not to sign the legislation if the Government intends ramming it through the Houses of the Oireachtas and to have a referendum to allow the people to decide whether they want electronic voting. The people should have the final say, not some arbitrary Minister back on a kick from the Far East.

Will the Progressive Democrat Members of the House please contact their former friend, the Minister, Deputy Cullen, and ask him to stop this collision course that he has decided to embark upon with other Members and parties in the House? The Progressive Democrats are the key here because before the last election they told us they would keep an eye on Fianna Fáil when this kind of issue came up.