Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas arís leis an Aire Stáit. I thank the Minister of State for the timely and useful update. I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge his role. I travelled to London recently to meet a number of groups and organisations that are representatives of the Irish diaspora in Britain.They all acknowledged the Minister of State's leadership role on issues pertaining to them, but not least on this important referendum. The timeline is clear in respect of the outline of what the next steps should be. If the Minister of State does not mind I will home in on his last paragraph, which means that in broad terms the Bill should be drafted and published some four months prior to the holding of the referendum. That would be very early in the new year, possibly January or early February. How confident is the Minister of State that this would happen or is still on course to happen? I often come into the House to criticise the Government but I cannot criticise the Government in its diligent approach to this. The Government has been steadfast on it. As we get tantalisingly close to this referendum, we need to ensure we see it over the line with regard to the processes that are required. I will finish with that question. Go raibh maith agat.