Articles 2 and 3 excluded from committee brief

CHANGES in Articles 2 and 3, promised in the event of a comprehensive settlement in Northern Ireland, are excluded from consideration by the all party committee on the Constitution.

This is confirmed by the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, in a letter to opposition leaders setting out the terms of reference for the proposed informal committee.

Mr Bruton also excludes three other constitutional matters - the right to bail, Cabinet confidentiality and votes for emigrants - from the committee's brief because they are "the subject of separate consideration by the Government".

With the final report from the expert review group due to be submitted to the Government at the end of May, Mr Bruton is suggesting that the committee should consider "whether there might be a single draft of non controversial amendments to the Constitution to deal with technical matters".

The general mandate given to the Oireachtas committee, in Mr Bruton's letter, is: "In order to provide focus to the place and relevance of the Constitution and to establish those areas where constitutional change may be desirable or necessary, the all party committee will undertake a full review of the Constitution".

Under the terms of reference, participation in the committee would involve no obligation to support any recommendations which might be made, even if unanimously.

The all party committee, according to the Taoiseach, would comprise nine members: three Fianna Fail, two Fine Gael, one of whom would be chair, two Labour, one Progressive Democrat and one Democratic Left.

The committee, which will be informal, is being asked to bring forward an interim report on specific sections of the Constitution by early 1997, and a final report as soon as possible thereafter.