The National Forum on Europe is planning a "blitz" of 16 public meetings around the State in September and early October. The "mini-forums" and conferences will be held in locations ranging from Letterkenny to Galway, Cork and Enniscorthy.
Some of the meetings will be general discussions while others will be devoted to the European aspects of a specific topic, e.g. the rights of women; industrial workers; young people and their concerns; the farming and fishing communities. The forum is not directly concerned with the Nice Treaty and is likely to be suspended in the run-up to the second Nice referendum, expected in late October.
The schedule of meetings is: Drogheda, Co Louth, September 3rd; Castlebar, Co Mayo, September 9th; Letterkenny, Co Donegal, September 10th; Lucan, Co Dublin, September 16th; Cork, mid-September; Ennis, Co Clare, September 19th; Thurles, Co Tipperary, September 23rd; Kilkenny, September 24th; Liberty Hall, Dublin, September 27th; Mansion House, Dublin, October 4th; Newbridge, Co Kildare, October 1st; Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, October 2nd.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for European Affairs, Mr Dick Roche, said in Dublin that the No side in the debate had tried to portray the European Union as complex. "In essence it isn't complex," he said.
Commenting on the issue of the free movement of labour, Mr Roche expressed regret that "xenophobia has raised its head in the debate". Europe was about three things: peace, democracy and prosperity.
When Ireland voted on membership 30 years ago, there were dire warnings about the consequences, but none of those prophecies had come true. "It is important that we stay at the heart of Europe," Mr Roche said. He was speaking at a reception for Irish delegates to the European Youth Convention held last week in Brussels.
The nine delegates had contributed to a document presented to the Convention on the Future of Europe highlighting the need for the EU to become more inclusive of young people and their interests.
The Labour MEP, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, said there was massive debate in the convention on how Europe was to be governed into the future. The key issue was how to generate that debate at national and local level.
One of the youth delegates, Mr Ciarán Toland, said he believed five of the nine were also members of the Ireland for Europe group, a single-issue group campaigning for a Yes vote on Nice, but he stressed that this was separate from its Youth Convention role.
Fianna Fáil MEP Mr Niall Andrews said in a statement that Ireland's economic future was inextricably linked to the European Union. "As an exporting country we have benefited tremendously from the internal market operating in Europe and now from the Single European Currency regime," he said.
"The enlargement of the European Union will offer further jobs opportunities for Irish people both in Ireland and within the European Union."