Information on Nice vote to be delivered to every home

EVERY home in the country will get an explanatory booklet about the EU Nice Treaty ahead of the second referendum in October, it emerged yesterday.

The news came as Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen prepared to today launch a new White Paper on the Treaty, which was rejected in June of last year. Officials said the paper would cover the same issues as the one launched ahead of the last referendum but also attempt to explain the context ahead of the next vote.

These matters include the EU leaders’ political declaration secured by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on June 21 last at a summit in Seville, which stated the other governments would never try to coerce Ireland into changing its position of military neutrality. Government officials also yesterday pointed to the setting up of a new Oireachtas EU scrutiny committee, which met for the first time on Wednesday under the chairmanship of former European Affairs Minister Gay Mitchell.