EU: The European Commission's presence in Ireland is to be strengthened in an effort to involve citizens more with the EU.
Under plans to be unveiled later this year, the EU is to propose investing more resources on the ground in Ireland, and all other member-states, to counter the apathy that led to a record low turnout in the European elections in June.
Outlining the preliminary thinking, Mr Joao Vale de Almeida, who is organising the transition to the new Commission beginning on November 1st, said: "We \ agreed on the principle of reinforcing the representation of the Commission in member-states' capitals."
He admitted there was a big "communication gap" between Brussels and EU citizens.
Mr Peter Doyle, director of the European Commission's office in Dublin, said the move "is very badly needed".
Informing people about the EU "requires a huge amount of manpower if you're going to do it properly", he said.
While his office receives about 10,000 visitors a year, he says there should be more regional offices around Ireland so that people can obtain the information they need more easily.
The plans will have a direct effect on TDs, as the Commission is determined to get national parliaments to play a bigger role in European debates - particularly as such a large part of Irish law derives from the EU.
Officials are also hoping that once deputies are involved, it might stop governments blaming Brussels for legislation that does not go down well at home and taking credit for any positive side-effects.
"The plan will be to have more active links with national parliaments - dialogue creates debate and debate creates awareness," a well-placed EU official said.
The overall task of making Europe more relevant to citizens will fall to the Swedish commissioner, Ms Margot Wallström, from November.
She is the first communication strategy commissioner to be appointed, and the initiative is a measure of how worried the EU is about the growing gap between a political elite in Brussels and European citizens.
Explaining the strategy to MEPs, the incoming European Commission President, Mr José Manuel Barroso, said the aim was to "have more concrete decisions that we can explain to citizens and the connection of those decisions to their lives".
But it will be an enormous task, as Ms Wallström knows.
"It is not something I can do by myself," she said last week, adding that the responsibility for communicating Europe has to be shared between the Commission, member-states and political parties.
One of the catalysts for creating this position was the feeble turnout for the European elections across member-states. The average turnout of 26.4 per cent among the states which had joined the EU the previous month prompted much soul-searching.
This was compounded by the fact that eurosceptics gained a much stronger foothold in the European Parliament.
Another task facing Ms Wallström is dealing with the new European Constitution.
She will have to manage the political fall-out if any country rejects the constitution in a referendum - many of which will be held next year.
The political stakes were upped considerably when Britain and then France said they will hold referendums.
If one country says no, it will plunge the European Union into a political crisis.
The reaction should a smaller country, such as Ireland, say no remains to be seen.