The Fine Gael leader has called for the setting up of a special committee to adjudicate on any future proposals for amendments to the Constitution. Mr Michael Noonan also called for the Seanad to be the forum for scrutiny of all EU activity and directives.
He was speaking during a debate with the Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, on "Democracy and the EU". Neither party leader, in addresses to the Humbert School, mentioned Fine Gael's withdrawal from the forum on the future of Europe.
However, afterwards Mr Noonan said he expected to hear from the Government before the end of the month about possible revised terms of reference.
The Fine Gael leader told the school, whose participants included councillors, TDs and senators from the main parties, that the proposed Oireachtas committee on referendums would bring in whatever experts were necessary, invite submissions and produce a report setting out the basis for moving forward with any referendum.
He reiterated the party's commitment to the McKenna judgment on the funding of pro- and anti-referendum campaigners, which was reinforced by the Coughlan judgment. But the way they were implemented needed to be reviewed.
The Referendum Commission would still provide objective and user-friendly information to the public. He did not see that £4.5 million should have been spent on the referendum. It was a "colossal waste of money".
He believed the Seanad should have the power to call government ministers, EU commissioners and relevant ministers of the member-states holding the presidency.
The Labour leader said the EU should not aspire to superstate status but to "super-influence", and he called for those who opposed the Nice Treaty to explain how they would reconcile the defeat of the treaty with enlargement of the EU.
He said all EU ministerial council meetings should be broadcast in full.
He added that journalists took the "spin" given from a minister or officials and then had to check with the journalists of other countries if what their minister said was the correct position.
Mr Quinn stressed the necessity of politics, political participation and democracy. In 1901 Argentina was a much wealthier country, hospitable and fairly developed compared with the frozen wasteland of Canada. The change in their fortunes showed that "countries can go wrong if people allow politics to go wrong".
The session was chaired by CBS television producer, Ms Mary Finnegan, who said an informed electorate was the best protection of democracy.
