Ahern signals vote on EU constitution next year

A referendum on the EU constitution is likely to be held next year, the Taoiseach told the Dáil today.

Contradicting earlier suggestions by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, that the referendum might not be held until 2006, Mr Ahern said sometime next year would be an "appropriate" time for the vote given the November 2006 deadline for ratification.

Taoiseach Mr Bertie Ahern

He was responding to a question from Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, regarding the possible timing of the referendum and the type of information campaign the Government was planning.

Mr Rabbitte said, while he congratulated the Taoiseach on his efforts in securing agreement on the proposed constitution, "the hard work starts now" in terms of ratification.

Mr Ahern said it was important a period of time was given over to educating people on the issues to allow them "make up their own minds".

He said the Government had already turned its attention to getting information to public libraries and schools about the proposed constitution.

He highlighted the important role the Forum on Europe had played in promoting debate on the issues and looked forward to it playing a major role in the next referendum.

He said the Government was planning to start an information campaign in the autumn.

EU leaders agreed to adopt a historic first constitution for a united Europe last month, ending months of negotiation over voting mechanisms.

The constitution, if ratified by the 25 member states, will change the present system of weighted votes in the Council of Ministers to a system based on population size.