The Government has been accused of trying to rush through the referendum on the Nice Treaty because it is afraid of "real and honest debate".

The chairman of the No to Nice campaign, Mr Denis Riordan, said the Government hoped most people would go to the polls on June 7th "in ignorance of the facts".

Speaking in Dublin yesterday at the launch of the campaign, Mr Riordan said the manner in which the referendum had been scheduled within the minimum period of time permitted by the Constitution raised very serious questions about the Government's commitment to democracy.

"The Irish people need to know that once the treaty is passed it paves the way for a situation in which, following enlargement, Ireland will have only seven votes out of 345 on the Council of Ministers. They need to know that the treaty will deprive Ireland of 20 per cent of its European Parliament members, leaving us with just 12 out of an eventual 732. And after enlargement we will have no Commissioner at all for much of the time," he said.

He accused the Government of making false claims about the economic benefits under the treaty, saying: "The truth is that all the applicant countries are already freetrade areas and that access to their markets for Irish products is already possible."

When voters approved membership of the European Economic Community in 1973 they were led to believe it was purely a forum for economic co-operation. "We were assured that our neutrality would be protected, and this was a lie. We were supposed to have a major influence on the development of Europe: the Nice Treaty leaves us with no influence at all. Our Government are engaging in a gigantic confidence trick," Mr Riordan said.

Although the platform at the launch included anti-abortion campaigners, the thrust of the No to Nice group's publicity material concerns the general effect of the Nice Treaty on Irish sovereignty.

The former High Court judge, Mr Rory O'Hanlon, said Irish people had fought for independence for 800 years. The result was a "unique" Constitution which was a model to the rest of the world because it upheld the rights and freedoms of the individual and was imbued with a Christian ethos.

This Constitution was being gradually eroded, and we were being drawn into a European community that was in many respects "foreign to our traditions". Irish sovereignty was being handed over to a community in which Ireland would play a minimal role. Control of our destiny was being handed over step by step to faceless people on the European scene.

Mr Justin Barrett said that although he was involved with the anti-abortion group Youth Defence, the core of the No to Nice campaign was the question of national identity, which included Ireland's pro-life culture, but only as one element.

"If the majority of Irish people know what is in the treaty, they will vote against it," Mr Barrett said. The campaign had decided that it was important to inform the Irish people of what was actually in the treaty and all of what was in the treaty.