Despite the fanfare, the Forum on Europe has turned out to be a damp squib. Deaglán de Bréadún looks at the reasons
In the early days of Irish democracy, the contents of the Nation newspaper were read aloud in Repeal Reading Rooms around the country. A largely-illiterate populace listened with rapt attention to the reports and historical articles in Thomas Davis's weekly and memorised patriotic songs like A Nation Once Again and The West's Asleep.
It is a moving illustration of the hunger of ordinary people at the time for democratic self-government and repeal of the union with Britain. The newspaper's aim was "to create and foster public opinion, and make it racy of the soil".
These days Ireland is part of a very different union, which includes but is not dominated by Britain. Unlike the Repeal days, there is little or no support for withdrawal from the European Union, but there are certain problems in the relationship, as seen in the rejection of the Treaty of Nice last June.
The National Forum on Europe was set up last October to "facilitate a broad discussion of issues relevant to Ireland's membership of an enlarging Union" and to contribute to the EU-wide debate on the "Future of Europe". Whatever about "creating", it was certainly meant, like the Nation, to "foster" public opinion.
Starting this evening in Waterford, the forum begins a fortnight of regional meetings where members of the public will be invited to give their views.
There are meetings in Tullamore on Wednesday and Limerick on Friday. While they may have echoes of the 19th-century Repeal Room, they are in fact based on the "listening exercises" conducted by the Patten Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland.
The chairman of the forum, Senator Maurice Hayes, was a member of the Patten Commission and brought the idea across the Border. His impartiality in the chair is praised by Europhile and Eurosceptic alike. Up to now, the forum has met each week in Dublin Castle to hear the views of academics and public figures, and there is general agreement that the standard of discussion has been high.
Yet despite these positive features and attributes and the glaring need for proper debate, the forum has manifestly failed to ignite the public imagination. "I don't think it's working," a seasoned observer of the Irish and European scene remarked sadly.
The format is not "user-friendly". Speakers come to St Patrick's Hall, the Castle's vast ballroom, where they sit facing the chairman and delegates, but with their backs to the public and the media. From the back of the hall it is hard to know which individual is speaking at any particular time.
It is not a case of the politicians going behind the people's back but the other way round. Happily the format for regional meetings will be based on the Questions and Answers model, except the audience is meant to do most of the talking.
There is a deeper and more fundamental problem than the seating arrangements. The abstentionist approach of the main Opposition party has, in truth, rendered the forum a lame duck.
What is the sound of one hand clapping? Fine Gael has in its ranks some of the most articulate and well-informed speakers on European issues, such as Alan Dukes, John Bruton, Avril Doyle and John Cushnahan, but these and others are notable by their absence.
The Eurosceptics are not complaining. "It's good for us," one of them said privately. "It has enormously strengthened our side of the case."
THERE have been rumblings inside Fine Gael about the party's "vow of celibacy". Its leader, Michael Noonan, said the forum would be "a talking shop that won't reach a conclusion" and that his party was "increasingly weary" of political consensus.
But behind the scenes some of his colleagues are fuming. At the same time there is a suspicion that the Government found the forum a neat way of "parking" the European issue and the Nice debate until after the general election.
There were hopes in pro-EU quarters that the forum would indeed be the vehicle for assuaging public doubts and allaying fears about the Nice Treaty. The arguments of Eurosceptics and Europhobes alike would be comprehensively demolished in full public view and the foundations laid for the triumphant victory of the Yes side in the replay of the referendum.
However, not only Fine Gael but large sections of the media have stayed away from St Patrick's Hall. Perhaps local radio and newspapers will pay more attention to the regional debates.
Turnout in the referendum was poor, reflecting a low level of interest in European affairs. Will people turn out on a cold winter evening for a debate on Europe? It is worth pointing out that, just because you are not interested in Brussels does not mean Brussels is not interested in you.
Deaglán de Bréadún is Foreign Affairs Correspondent of The Irish Times.