Martin calls for treaty polling date to be pushed back

The Government is under pressure to push back the timeframe for the EU stability treaty referendum by a month, with claims the late May date for the vote is too rushed.

The demand came from Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin as he strongly disagreed with government claims that the vote was about whether Ireland wanted to stay in the euro.

With less than six weeks before voting day, party leaders appeared before an Oireachtas committee on EU affairs to answer questions about their stances.