European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, for the past 33 years I have had the privilege of being a guest of the Irish nation, and I was present for 12 days of the referendum campaign and read their literature. I notice from the two speeches that we have just heard that the Irish referendum is prayed in aid for this amendment. Reference was made to the way that the Irish have spoken and to the idea that their referendum is more democratic than what we do in our two Houses of Parliament. I want to make only one point—I think it is a new one—and then say a sentence or two about the particular amendment. The point is that the Irish nation was not asked in the referendum question, ““Do you agree with the proposal to ratify the treaty of Lisbon?””. That would have been a complicated enough question given the appalling drafting and opaque language of much of the treaty. This is the question they were asked: "““Do you approve of the proposal to amend the Constitution contained in the undermentioned Bill?””;" that is, the: "““Twenty-third Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 2001””." There was then an official press pack which explained the proposal to insert various provisions in Article 29 of the constitution, referring to articles of the Lisbon treaty with a promise to the voters that they could obtain a copy of the Bill in the post office but not a copy of the treaty. It was literally impossible even for a legal genius to understand the question unless they had the Lisbon treaty next to them. Therefore, when noble Lords say that this is some new event which gives a new opportunity and that our procedures are less democratic, I disagree. So far as this amendment is concerned, it says nothing at all, because the Government have no more power than is given by the law of the land, and the law of the land will restrict them in any way that the law of the land so provides. We do not need an amendment of this kind.