Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

Bear with me as I do not mean to be argumentative about the matter. Senators should have no fear that if something went wrong, any government - including this Government - would protest in the strongest possible manner. We do not know the detail and Senator Byrne's comments are interesting. They had better get the timing right if his comments are right, and there may be something in it.

There is no point in us needlessly getting into a flap, which is happening far too frequently. Everyone on the Government side would accept the bona fides of the Opposition with regard to the very important referendum which is staring us in the face and which is necessary legally and constitutionally. Let us not argue about it, and Senator MacSharry is probably right that we should keep it in terms as simple as possible when presenting the argument. Allied to this, I have no doubt that the Referendum Commission will do a fair, impartial and good job of work in presenting the facts.