David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with some of what the Minister of State said in his response. I was not here in the Chamber to hear it but I followed on the monitor in my office. I agree with some of the points he made, but his and the Government's biggest failure is that they have not constructed a credible argument for not putting the options of reform to the people. They still have not put forward to me a credible argument as to why we cannot have that.

I was also going to raise the issue of the possibility of a preferendum, but the Minister of State has dealt with that. He referred to the various Articles in the Constitution which he said prevents an preferendum from being held, but that is precisely why we should not rush into making decisions to abolish something without properly thinking things through. What the Minister of State is essentially saying is that we would like to put the option of reform and for people to have that option but it cannot be done.