Michael McCarthy (Labour)

There will be thousands of candidates in the local and European elections. There are no guarantees that people will not take advantage of this issue. I have yet to be convinced by the Minister, Deputy McDowell, and others that this will not happen.

The local and European elections are 65 days away. Why has this matter become so urgent? In the middle of February the Taoiseach said in the Dáil there would not be a referendum of any description. All of a sudden, on 10 March, a referendum was announced. What happened between 17 February and 10 March? Can the Minister of State deny that an American researcher was engaged by the main Government party to find out the main issue of concern to people in advance of the local elections and that the answer the person came up with was the issue of citizenship or some variant thereof? If that is the reason the Government proposes to change our Constitution — the charter which guarantees the fundamental rights of our citizens——