The Convention on the Constitution published a total of nine reports. The Government is committed to responding to each report in the Oireachtas and, if accepting a recommendation for an amendment of the Constitution, to indicating the timescale it envisages for any related referendum.
The Government has responded in the Dáil to the first three reports of the Convention and has committed to three referenda (reducing the voting age; reducing the age of candidacy for Presidential elections; and same sex marriage) and it is intended to hold referenda on these in 2015. The fourth report dealt mainly with electoral matters and the Government has already announced that it has accepted the recommendation in the fourth report that an Electoral Commission be established.
The Government had hoped to respond to the fourth, fifth and sixth reports in the Dáil before the summer recess. However, work on preparation of responses is ongoing and that will not be possible.
The Deputies will be aware that the Statement of Priorities 2014-2016 that the Government published on 11 July repeats the Government's commitment to holding the three referenda mentioned above in 2015 and confirming that decisions will be taken in the near future on other recommendations from the Convention.