Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin said the Dublin South and Donegal byelections will not be held until “the back end of the year”.
Speaking on RTÉ's The Week in Politics last night Ms Hanafin also said the election of a Dublin lord mayor, originally proposed for June, would also be held at a later date.
She said “the legislation for the mayor of Dublin won’t be ready until then [June] and certainly no agreement on a constitutional referendum would be until then either.”
“We would anticipate with the election for the lord mayor of Dublin, the two byelections, in Donegal and Dublin South and possibly also at least one constitutional referendum.”
She added that “We have also promised in the programme for Government that there would be a constitutional referendum on a court of civil appeal. So all of those should probably take place, if they are to take place, around the same time and that certainly won’t be until the back end of the year.”
The bye-elections are required following the resignation of George Lee from Fine Gael and the election of Pat The Cope Gallagher to the European Parliament last year.