I want to clear a point. The Taoiseach is reported as having said in the US that he was not in favour of piecemeal changing of the Constitution. Is that correct.

I said in the US that I did not believe that we should tinker with our Constitution in advance of some major overhaul of the Constitution in the context of some solution to the Northern Ireland problem. I was thinking in terms of the legal and constitutional implications of some new political structures covering this island as a whole, and in that context I did not believe that we should tinker with our Constitution in advance of such a situation and in relation to such a situation.

He must make up his mind that he is going to tinker with it and when he makes up his mind he will change it to suit himself. Would it not be better to have a constitutional committee to examine the Constitution and to make proposals?

The only thing I can say——

Would he look at the 1937 Constitution?

Would the Taoiseach not agree that there are constitutional changes required for the sake of our domestic situation which bear no relevance to our relationship with either the United Kingdom or Northern Ireland? In the light of the concern about a variety of issues expressed this afternoon by Deputies, would the Taoiseach reconsider his attitude and in particular reconsider the establishment within the next three or four weeks of an all-party committee on the Constitution so that this matter may be dealt with by the Oireachtas and not left in a cubby hole where nobody is willing to touch it?

The previous Government made a great song and dance about setting up a committee to carry out a review of the Constitution and, as far as I can see from the papers available to me, absolutely nothing was done during that time.

Would the Taoiseach indicate what papers suggest that to him, given that the committee have had a number of meetings and have already tackled a number of Articles of the Constitution? To what items in the papers is he referring when he makes that extraordinary statement?

The committee in question had a couple of desultory meetings at which they did nothing.

That is not what the Taoiseach said, nor is it the case. The Taoiseach knows it is not the case and he is deliberately misleading the House.

I will start exposing more fraud as time goes on.