THE CABINET is today expected to decide to hold the Lisbon Treaty referendum on October 2nd.
The decision is due before Taoiseach Brian Cowen reports to the Dáil on the outcome of last week’s European Council summit meeting.
Ministers will discuss the timing of the referendum when they meet in Government Buildings this morning, and draft legislation needed to hold the referendum.
A formal announcement about the timing could be made tomorrow afternoon when Mr Cowen will respond to Dáil questions from Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore.
Mr Cowen and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin are to hold a further round of discussions with the main Opposition leaders before the legislation is passed by the Oireachtas.
The 29th Amendment to the Constitution (Lisbon Treaty) Bill, 2009 will be put before the Dáil and Seanad in early July, before plenary sessions of the two chambers are suspended for the summer on July 9th.
The guarantees secured by the Government have been enshrined in a formal European Council declaration, which itself has legal force, and backed up by a protocol attached to the next EU treaty – covering Croatia’s membership accession in a couple of years.
The specific guarantees, which do not change the Lisbon Treaty but provide a common interpretation of it, pledge that nothing in the treaty will affect Ireland’s constitutional provisions on abortion and the family, its right to determine its own tax regime or force the State to sign up to European defence co-operation. A summit in December agreed that member states would also retain their right to an individual commissioner.
