Since it was set up last October, the National Forum on Europe has found unanimous support for the enlargement of the European Union, according to chairman Senator Maurice Hayes’s report.
The report on the first phase of forum's work, which was published today, emphasises the fact that all participating parties and groups had indicated they support enlargement and that no voice opposed to the process had been raised.
In the first phase, focusing on enlargement, the forum did a broad analysis of what membership of the European Union has meant to Ireland.
One general message that came in exchanges on enlargement was the need to abandon "euro speak" as the only language used to debate Europe, according to the report. It says Ireland needs to move away from talking about Europe solely in terms of economic realities and start to recognise the "human face" of the European Union.
Senator Hayes said: "It is clear to us that the concerns we identified are being echoed in similar debates across Europe. Encouragingly, since we finished the first phase of our work, the European Council, at Laeken, in Belgium, pointed the way forward towards changing forever the way the EU does business and relates to its citizens.
"The Laeken conclusions reflect much of the concern and, at times, frustration conveyed by many of the participants at the forum, and they go to the heart of many of the preoccupations that surfaced during the debate on the Nice Treaty referendum," he said.