Twenty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill, 2002 - The Treaty of Nice

Press Release - 31 July 2002

Referendum Commission Outlines Approach to Treaty of Nice Campaign

Mr Justice Tom Finlay, Chairman today outlined the approach which the Referendum Commission proposes to take in relation to the forthcoming campaign on the Treaty of Nice.

At today's press briefing he explained that the primary role of the Commission was to explain the subject matter of the referendum and to encourage the electorate to exercise their vote.

The Commission is anxious to make the maximum use of the additional time provided by the decision of the Government to establish the Commission at an earlier stage than has been the practice in previous referendums he said.

In this respect he explained that the Commission is considering whether, as a precursor to the main campaign, it might be feasible to carry out an exercise in reminding the public about the role of key EU institutions and the main landmarks in Ireland's relationship with the EU since 1973.

The Commission's functions having regard to the amendments contained in the Referendum Act of 2001 may be summarised as follows:
1. An obligation to prepare statements generally explaining the subject matter of the proposal and also containing such other information as we consider appropriate for the purpose of the vote on the referendum.
2. To publish and circulate all that information in such manner as is best calculated to bring it to the attention of the electorate.
To promote public awareness of the referendum and encourage the electorate to vote.

These tasks cannot be approached in isolation one from another Mr Justice Finlay said.

It would obviously be meaningless to promote public awareness of the referendum without informing people to the greatest possible extent of its nature and the possible consequences of its acceptance or rejection, he said.

Similarly, he added, it would be somewhat futile and unreal to urge people to vote in the referendum to a much greater extent than they had previously done in recent referendums unless it was allied to a serious effort to give them the information upon which their decision to vote could properly be made.

It is therefore the intention of the Commission to the greatest possible extent by publications which we hope to bring to every house in Ireland to give the maximum amount of information as to the nature of the proposals in the simplest and clearest terms.

We realise however that this is not an easy task and that there is no simplistic way of explaining the terms of the Treaty of Nice or the possible consequences involved in its acceptance or rejection.

Of necessity it seems to us that people must realise that in order to acquire the sort of information which is necessary to make an informed decision on this referendum they themselves will have to make an effort.

In short, it is not sufficient for us or anyone else merely to urge people to turn up on the day of the vote and vote but we must all persuade them before that date to take the trouble to arm themselves with the information upon which their vote should be based.

Furthermore, since surveys suggest that apathy was a significant factor in recent polls with low turnouts we must try and hope to succeed in persuading people of the very obvious fact that if they do not bother to vote they place important matters which may seriously affect them and their affairs freely into the hands of others with no responsibility to them, he concluded.

Information Note