No commitment had been made to the Independent members supporting the Government about the holding of an abortion referendum, the Taoiseach told the House.

Mr Ahern said that until the Cabinet deliberated on both the Green Paper and, in particular, the All-Party Committee on the Constitution report, there was no commitment to do anything.

"This is a matter still to be dealt with if we can achieve both a wording and a legislative base where we can deal with this matter.

"However, the Cabinet has not completed its work on this, and until that happens, there is no position to be stated on it, either to the Independents or to anybody else."

Mr Trevor Sargent (Green Party, Dublin North) asked the Taoiseach his view of the recommendation by the All-Party Committee on the Constitution, that a Bill to amend the Constitution should not go before the public until 90 days had elapsed, to allow people an opportunity to consider all aspects of the legislation.

He said a recent opinion poll in The Irish Times had revealed most people did not know what the Nice Treaty was about, good, bad or indifferent.

The recommendation was not heeded and people had been given only 21 days to consider the treaty, he said. "Is this not a gross disservice by the Taoiseach to the people?"

Mr Ahern said that as he understood it there was in draft form within the all-party committee something similar to what Mr Sargent said. However, the committee did not make a recommendation and its report had not yet been issued.

Mr Joe Higgins (Socialist Party, Dublin West) said it was a very bad development that over 60 per cent of the Irish people had said they knew nothing, or very little, about the contents of the treaty, and that, in retrospect, it was a huge mistake to force the issue by going to the people in such a short time.

Mr Ahern said the debate had been ongoing for the past three or four weeks, in one form or another, and had probably attracted more attention than a lot of other referendums in the past.

It had probably attracted more attention than the referendums on the Amsterdam Treaty or the Maastricht Treaty.

"People seem to be more informed now, and as we deal with the more fundamental issues in a few years' time, I think that debate will be developed."