Constitution offers chance to force EU referendum

The Government faces fresh headaches over the treaty on EU fiscal union amid efforts to force a referendum via a little- known constitutional tool.

Independent TDs will seek to petition President Michael D Higgins to order a nationwide poll if they can gain the necessary Oireachtas support.

They hope to invoke Article 27 of the Constitution which allows the President to trigger a referendum if a majority of the Seanad and one third of the Dáil support it.

Donegal South West TD Thomas Pringle led the unprecedented move as the Government again signalled its reluctance to allow a vote on the treaty.

However, Mr Pringle said the bid would require support from a handful of Government TDs as the combined opposition fell just short of the one third required.

He said he believed they could achieve majority support in the Seanad.

Mr Pringle said the measure allowed the Oireachtas to petition the President not to sign a bill in to law before it is approved by a referendum: “This mechanism was inserted into the Constitution all those years ago to ensure that even when there’s no constitutional requirement for it, there is a means by which the people may be consulted on matters of significant public interest.

“Regardless of the legal requirement to put this treaty to the people, there is a moral requirement to do so as its effects will be felt by the people of Ireland long after the current Dáil has been dissolved and replaced.”

The move came as Enda Kenny denied the Government tried to lessen the chance of a referendum by getting the proposed inter-governmental treaty written in a certain way.

Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald accused the Taoiseach of trying to “spoof” voters by insisting any decision on holding a referendum was the Attorney General’s.

“But in reality, what you have tried to create is a pre-cooked deal. What we are looking at here is another example of you having one message for the domestic audience but saying something quite different at a European level,” she said during Dáil clashes on the issue.

Mr Kenny said SF could not “have it both ways” by saying Ireland had no influence in Europe, then claiming it had the treaty written in a certain way.

The Taoiseach insisted Irish officials had no agenda other than “to maximise Ireland’s interests”.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin warned that forcing through the treaty without public support would badly damage the standing of the EU in the eyes of the electorate.