Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

We saw what happened with the referendum on the powers of inquiry for the Dáil and Seanad when the Government did not have universal support. Since the Constitution was first introduced in 1937, it has been proven that referenda put before the people have passed only when they received political consensus. Where there was a lack of political consensus, the referenda have fallen and Fianna Fáil was the victim of this also when it tried to change the electoral system in the late 1950s.

With regard to the day against homophobia, I wish to bring another issue to the attention of the Leader and I would be interested to hear his comments on it. This is with regard to the persistent and regular references - it is somewhat relevant in the week that is in it - to Giovanni Trapattoni in the sports pages of our national newspapers as "the 73-year-old". We see constant references to the 73-year-old who did this or that.