EC booklet plans to improve awareness

EVERY home will soon receive a booklet explaining the European Constitution in a bid to significantly improve public awareness, the Government confirmed yesterday.

European Affairs Minister Noel Treacy acknowledged that the Government was concerned following the publication yesterday of a Europe-wide poll which found Ireland ranked 22nd out of 25 countries when it came to knowledge of the EU Constitution.

The Galway East TD insisted the coalition had a strategy to make the public more knowledgeable about the document in the run up to a referendum.

“I recognise that more has to be done to explain the constitution to the public and to make its benefits clear,” he said.

“The Government is taking a number of important steps to do this, building on the work which has already been done.

“Well in advance of a referendum, we will be giving the Referendum Commission the time and resources it needs to do its job of explaining the issues and encouraging turnout.

“The Government itself will be publishing a full White Paper and will in due course send a short explanatory document to every home. The text of the constitution itself will be freely available.”

When questioned about the Constitution, the Irish had the highest number of don’t knows of all the member states and one of the lowest levels of support.

This is similar to the public feeling before the first Nice referendum, when the Irish shocked Europe by rejecting the treaty.

Professor Richard Sinnott, who analysed the results of the latest Eurobarometer survey, said the Irish could reject the constitution in a referendum.

“The results show you cannot take anything for granted because the number of don’t knows is very high,” he said.

The survey clearly show that Irish people will not vote for something they know little about, he said.

Just 28% said they were in favour of the constitution, 5% were against and a massive 67% said they did not know how they would vote in the referendum, the date of which is yet to be announced.

Only half those questioned said they had heard of the draft document, which Professor Sinnott was surprising given the role played by the Taoiseach Bernie Ahern in getting his fellow EU leaders to agree on the final document.

However, Professor Sinnott believes their reticence is linked to their admitting they know very little about the details.

“It is clear that the higher the level of knowledge, the greater the support for the constitution. This reinforces one of the main findings of the analysis of the Nice referendum - that low levels of knowledge were associated with both abstention and with voting no,” Professor Sinnott said.

A general poll showed the downward trend against the European Union that peaked at the time of the first Nice referendum has been reversed.

More than 87% believe the country has benefited from membership and 77% say belonging to the EU is a good thing.

However, they are afraid that expanding Europe will mean Irish jobs being lost to countries with lower costs. They also fear a bigger EU will increase drug trafficking and organised crime.