My question relates to forthcoming legislation. The Tánaiste has proposed that a two-thirds majority should be required for any changes to legislation arising from the recommendations on abortion of the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, if there is an affirmative vote in the forthcoming referendum. It seems to me that as things presently stand, that would be an unconstitutional move. The Tánaiste's proposals would require a constitutional amendment to be put into effect. I believe he was to call on this in Cabinet this morning. A lot of us are at a loss to explain the rationale behind it within the current constitutional framework. Can the Taoiseach confirm whether he agrees with that proposition? Second, is it the intention of the Government to bring forward a further amendment to the Constitution to facilitate the Tánaiste's desire for such a provision?

I will be brief. I am assuming that the Tánaiste misspoke on this matter. I would like the Taoiseach to confirm that. If not, how on earth does the Government propose to insert into legislation something which clearly contravenes the Constitution? I would also like to know when the legislative package or the heads of Bill that the Government is considering today will be published and made available for scrutiny by the rest of us.

I pointed out this morning that as this suggestion was carried in five national newspapers today, presumably it was promulgated by the Government itself. For the new Bill to require a two-thirds majority of this House to amend would be unconstitutional. I too would be interested to know whether that is being entertained, because several Ministers were reported in the newspapers as saying that they support it. Before this gets out of control, the Taoiseach should be very clear in saying that this is unconstitutional and will not happen.

What the Tánaiste is proposing is not only unconstitutional, it is fundamentally undemocratic. It is further confusing people on this issue, and frankly, this kind of thing is going to endanger the "Yes" vote for the repeal of the eighth amendment. The Government and the Tánaiste should stop messing around and trust women. This is not about trusting politicians; it is about trusting women. This sort of stuff just confuses matters, as well as being undemocratic.

I too have to question how the Tánaiste could make an assertion like this. Deputy Thomas Byrne said on radio that a transition year student would know from a cursory look that this is totally unconstitutional. How did this get into five newspapers today? I seldom agree with Deputy Boyd Barrett but as he suggested, is the Government really trying to turn the people off supporting it? It is about politicians. It is about trusting politicians to make legislation here in the future, and quite frankly the people I have met and spoken to are not going to trust the Government with this. The Government is creating utter confusion. The Tánaiste might have taken a journey across the River Lee, across the bridge and back again. That is as far as he went. He is trying to get out of the commitments he gave to people before. The members of the Government have made a total dog's dinner out of this one too and the dogs in the street are waiting for them.

The logical conclusion of what the Tánaiste has talked about is that an amendment to the Constitution will be required, an amendment which essentially will be termed around the issue of abortion. At this stage, the Taoiseach must clarify the Government's thinking on this. If that is what is being proposed, the issue will move into a whole new spectrum in terms of time and debate. The Taoiseach must clarify this today.

There is quite a lot on the Cabinet agenda today, over 30 items, 11 of which we still have to address. The Cabinet meeting will resume this afternoon. We have not yet finished the discussion on the abortion legislation but it is intended that by this evening, we will be able to publish the general scheme of the Bill. On the proposal to require a two-thirds majority to be able to change any legislation, I sought advice from the Attorney General on that matter today. The Attorney General advises me that it would be contrary to Article 15 of the Constitution, and therefore could not be included in this legislation and therefore will not be. There will not be a requirement that any change to primary legislation would require a two-thirds majority as doing so would require an amendment to the Constitution in itself and it is not proposed to do that.

Has the Taoiseach spoken to the Tánaiste?

That was a dog's dinner.