May I say in passing, there is no reason that a Bill of rights should be confined to the Six Counties. We need a Bill of rights for the whole island.

With regard to the legislative priorities, yesterday the Taoiseach said he intended to establish a constitutional convention. How will that be made up and what legislation is required for it? We have a firm view that it should be on an all-Ireland basis. Will that be done? There is also a commitment to a referendum to amend the Constitution to cut the salaries of judges. Does the Taoiseach know when that Bill will be published? When will the children's rights constitutional amendment Bill be published? Will it be based on the wording agreed by the Joint Committee on the Rights of the Child?

I told the Deputy yesterday that I would give consideration to the inclusion of someone from Northern Ireland in the constitutional convention. As he knows, the convention will not be the final determinant of what will actually happen. It will be a convention at which citizens and others will give their views on a range of issues which I outlined to the House yesterday. Arising from any such report, the Government will consider how best to proceed with its recommendations. The terms of reference and make-up of the convention will be published as soon as I can get around to doing so.

With regard to the referendum on children's rights, to which the Government is committed to holding, I met all of the children's advocacy groups before the general election. A great deal of work was done by the all-party Oireachtas committee on children's rights and it came up with an agreed formula of words which was accepted. Subsequently, the Attorney General made a number of observations on the wording, with which the children's rights groups were disappointed. Having met them, I know they are of the view that it should be possible to reach agreement on a formula of words which could be put to the people in a referendum on the same date as the Presidential election. While I cannot confirm this, I am prepared to consider the matter. The Minister with responsibility for children will work intensively to find whether it would be possible.

The issue of judges is obviously one for a referendum. The Government will consider what is the best course to take in respect of a number of these issues. We must also give consideration to asking the people not only to consider the abolition of the Seanad but also the issue arising from the Abbeylara case. We would like authority to be given to specialised committees of the Dáil to carry out investigative work, with powers to compel attendance. The Deputy will be aware that the Oireachtas has been constrained due to a court decision in the matter.

For each of the referenda mentioned, a Bill will have to be produced and brought before the Dáil. The Government is working diligently to ascertain how quickly they can be produced.

I want to press the Taoiseach in as positive a way as possible on the convention. People from the North make up one quarter of the population on the island of Ireland. Therefore, they should have one quarter of the representatives. I ask the Taoiseach to consider this. Will the Diaspora be invited to be part of the convention? We are talking about an opportunity to do many good things, reflect the views of the people on this island and the wider Diaspora, see how we are governed and the way in which our society should be built. I want to press this issue, as of right. We cannot talk to others in the North or to the British who are reticent about aspects of the Good Friday Agreement when we ourselves do not, either in vision or practice, have an all-island or all-Ireland approach.

While the Taoiseach may not have the answer, there has been a rumour that the referenda might be held on the same date as the Presidential election. Will the Taoiseach clarify this point?

When I met the children's advocacy groups, they made the point that we should not have to go back and start the process all over again from scratch, that we should instead start from the point that the all-party Oireachtas committee had produced an agreed wording. With that wording and the Attorney General's views on a changed wording, it should be possible to get agreement on a formula of words that could be put to the people on the same date as the Presidential election. The same could apply to the issue of the abolition of the Seanad. Preparing a Bill dealing with the removal of articles from the Constitution and the implications for other articles in respect of the abolition of the Seanad is not as simple as it sounds. I have asked my Department to start work on this immediately and we will report progress.

On the Deputy's comment concerning the diaspora and Northern Ireland representation, the convention will deal with recommendations in so far as the Constitution, Bunreacht na hÉireann, is concerned. Obviously, there are issues that will have an impact in a cross-Border sense or in respect of the wider diaspora. I do not have a fixed view on the constraints and either the terms of reference for or the membership of the convention. I will give consideration to the two points raised by the Deputy, although perhaps not in respect of the actual percentage. I accept the Constitution of the Twenty-six Counties has implications in many ways for cross-Border activities and so on. In that sense and in seeking to reach a view on the constraints and the terms of reference, we will give consideration to the two points raised by the Deputy.

Particularly the rights of Irish citizens in the North.

Yes.