Wording for Amsterdam Treaty poll unlikely to satisfy Labour or DL

A new draft wording for the Amsterdam Treaty referendum, produced by the Attorney General's Office, is unlikely to gain the support of Labour and Democratic Left.

The wording retains the State's right to ratify the treaty. But in a re-formulation of the clause allowing the State to exercise "the options or discretions" provided by EU treaties, the AG's office is proposing a rider. This states that there would be a greater degree of Oireachtas scrutiny of such options.

It is understood that little progress was made yesterday between the AG's officials and representatives of the Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, in private negotiations on the proposed amendment.

Fine Gael and Democratic Left confirmed last night that the draft had not been circulated to their leaders. The Government made no contact with them yesterday.

Meanwhile, it is clear the Government has changed strategy on its botched attempt to secure an Opposition consensus on the referendum wording by concentrating its efforts on the Labour Party. While Fine Gael has adopted a low-profile position on the inclusion or exclusion of the options clause, Democratic Left has asserted the primacy of the Constitution. At a minimum, it wants the amendment to be divided into two questions to ensure a straightforward ratification.

It appears that as yet there is no agreement between Labour and the Attorney General's Office. This means the onus is on the Government to come up with a third draft of the wording.

Labour put two proposals to the AG's officials during discussions: to drop the "options or discretions" clause and simply ask the people to ratify the Amsterdam Treaty; or to narrow "options and discretions" covered by the amendment. This could be achieved by listing the options which the Government could exercise under the treaty. No guarantees were given that these proposals could be accommodated.

The Government's continuing failure to deal with Opposition reservations about the "options or discretions" clause could lead to a further delay with the 18th Amendment to the Constitution Bill in the Dail next week. The debate on the Bill has already been postponed twice.

Sources in Fine Gael, Labour and Democratic Left maintain that the Government has no understanding of their reservations about the clause. They say the Government is preoccupied with the defence question. In addition, they say the Government is incapable of explaining to them, in language that a voter would understand, its reasons for wanting to give constitutional cover to unspecified options and discretions in the first place.

The central reservation posed by Labour and Democratic Left about the "options and discretions" wording is that it would allow a government to opt in or out of unspecified future EU developments without having recourse to further referendums.