Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will finish this sentence. The Government was dealing with an emerging situation. As it concluded, the matter had to be dealt with at a constitutional level and could not be dealt with at a statutory level. The issue was, when would a referendum be held and would it be a single issue-only referendum or would it be on an occasion when the people were going to the polls. The view at the time was that it would be most unfortunate to have this as a single issue-only referendum and that explains what happened in 2004.