The Cabinet agreed this morning to table legislation to allow for a referendum on the repeal of the eighth amendment of the Constitution. Sinn Féin welcomes this. The Tánaiste is aware that we will campaign for the vote to repeal the eighth amendment. The timescale for the passage of the Bill is, however, very tight. This issue has already been raised with the Government. There is every possibility that the antics of some Members in the Chamber could delay the Bill if it does not begin its passage through the Oireachtas as soon as possible. It would be a problem for young people in particular if the referendum is pushed on into the summer. They are buoyed up and eager to cast their votes. I urge the Government to not delay the referendum any longer than is necessary. The Bill should come before the Dáil today to ensure that it is passed as soon as possible.

The plan, as I understand it, is to publish the Bill this evening and to bring it to the Houses tomorrow. This plan will be discussed with the Business Committee later today. We ask for the support of the other parties in order to ensure that we can introduce the Bill and get the Second Stage debate under way tomorrow.

We are committed to facilitating this but we will also seek the support of other parties to do so. For the information of the House, the Minister, Deputy Murphy, will be in a position to set up the referendum commission from tomorrow. The chair of the commission will be Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, whom the Chief Justice has recommended as an appropriate person to do that job. We are proceeding with the necessary legislation and putting the necessary structures in place to ensure that this referendum can be held before the end of May. We are on schedule to do so even though the timetable is tight. We will seek the co-operation of other parties in the House to ensure we can see this through.

The Tánaiste's time is up.

I also take this opportunity to wish everyone, women in particular, a happy International Women's Day. I congratulate the Ceann Comhairle for having invited RTÉ to celebrate in this building this morning. The Tánaiste has anticipated my question because I was going to follow on from the question Deputy Munster raised. We should very much welcome that on International Women's Day the Cabinet has agreed to publish the wording of the referendum. My question was going to be the follow-on question about the establishment of the commission. I welcome the fact that Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy will chair it. Perhaps the Tánaiste could again clarify the timing and give his reassurance, assuming not too much time will be needed for Committee and Report Stages of such a short piece of legislation, that as much time as possible, and as needed, will be allocated in the House to ensure we pass the legislation and that it go to the Upper House as quickly as possible.

The Government intends to make enough time available to allow everyone to speak on this issue. That will start tomorrow. The debate on the legislation will then recommence on 20 March, when the Dáil is due to come back. My understanding was that the Dáil was not to come back until 21 March, but I hope we will be able to get the Business Committee's agreement to come back on the Tuesday, a day earlier, to focus on progressing this legislation. For the benefit of the House, the Government decided on a number of matters today. It decided to approve the text of the Bill, which will be published this evening and debated tomorrow. It has also authorised that the Bill come before the Dáil. As I said, it has approved the preparation of a draft general scheme of a Bill which I hope will follow a successful referendum outcome.

We cannot have a lengthy statement on the matter. We follow what the Government is doing.

Is this not linked to-----

It is relevant to my question.

-----promised legislation?

The Tánaiste has only one minute to respond, I am afraid, the same as everyone else. I am sorry. I do not make the rules; it is just my job to implement them.

That is fine.