45% ignorant of EU constitution

Almost half of Irish citizens have never heard of the European constitution, a document that was finalised with great ceremony…

Almost half of Irish citizens have never heard of the European constitution, a document that was finalised with great ceremony in the EU last year and is to be put to a referendum in the Republic.

According to a "eurobarometer" poll to be published next week, 45 per cent of Irish citizens confess to knowing nothing of the EU charter, while more than two-thirds (67 per cent) said they did not know what their attitude to the document was.

Ireland's statistics are among the most extreme within the 25 member-states.

Only in Britain has a greater percentage of people not heard of the constitution (50 per cent) while an equal percentage of Cypriots (67 per cent) do not know what their attitude is to the document.

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On the other hand, just 5 per cent of Irish citizens said they opposed it, the lowest figure in any EU member-state, and 28 per cent are in favour, again among the lowest in the whole EU.

These figures contrast strongly with the average across the bloc which shows 49 per cent of citizens in favour of the constitution, a figure that rises to 72 per cent in Italy and 70 per cent in Belgium.

The Labour MEP, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, called the statistics a "worry".

He called on the Government to send a copy to every household and said there should be a political debate to tease out the pros and cons.

Mr De Rossa, who was a member of the body that drew up the text, said one prevalent fear in Ireland was that the European constitution will supersede the Irish Constitution.

This seems to be borne out by the statistics where half of the respondents who were hostile to the draft cited fear of a loss of sovereignty.

Less than half the survey sample correctly answered a question on whether the constitution would end national citizenship (it will not).

The survey is likely to galvanise the Government which has yet to set a date for a referendum or start a public debate on the issue.

The constitution, which will introduce an EU foreign minister, a permanent chair of the EU and greater powers to the European Parliament, has to be ratified by all 25 member-states before it can come into force.

The poll was conducted between October and November last year by TNS Opinion/EOS Gallup Europe. A total of 24,786 citizens were interviewed.