SEANAD REPORT:THE GOVERNMENT should have the guts to admit it had made a mistake in setting the date for the fiscal treaty referendum and should postpone it to the end of June, Mary White (FF) said.

Observing the Referendum Commission had said the run-in to some referendums had been too short, she said that was the case in this instance also.

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar warned a No vote was likely to mean deeper, quicker and more brutal austerity with no scope for stimulus. He favoured a stimulus policy with greater investment in infrastructure funded by the National Pensions Reserve Fund, the European Investment Board and private investors, which would create jobs. However, he believed a No vote would undermine any aspiration to getting a stimulus programme in place because it would heighten uncertainty about our commitment to the euro and about our willingness to repay creditors and investors.

Opposition leader Darragh O’Brien (FF) said he had discovered when canvassing that other issues such as water charges and the household tax were coming into the mix. It was important that Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan act to end the confusion surrounding water charges by explaining how much people would have to pay, what would be the free water allowance, who would actually have to pay for water meters and how payment would be made.

Cáit Keane (FG) said that throwing the treaty into somebody’s door “just as it’s written” was not giving factual information to voters. The Government should be entitled to explain what the treaty actually said without advocating a Yes or a No vote.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties had criticised the last government for not doing enough to inform people. She would like to see the council making suggestions to the current Government on how the treaty should be explained to people.

Paschal Mooney (FF) said the Government side of the House should take warning from Mr O’Brien’s comments about his experience so far “on the stump”.

If a Government Senator was suggesting there was a lack of clarity in relation to the treaty, then there was a real need for the Government to “up its game.”

Ms Keane intervened to say that she had been referring to the taking of legal advice by Sinn Féin about the Government’s website.