The poor support figures for the European reform treaty in The Irish TimesTNS mrbi opinion poll, show that the Government has "no room for complacency", Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern has said.
The referendum, expected next summer, will be about Ireland's place in Europe, he told a Rotary Club lunch in Drogheda.
The large number of don't knows shown by the poll is proof merely that the treaty "has just been agreed and has not yet even been signed", he told his audience.
"The information campaign has yet to begin. The fact that only 13 per cent intend to vote No is encouraging for those of us who will be campaigning strongly for a Yes vote. This poll reaffirms that there can be no room for complacency. This treaty is inevitably complex but it is a good treaty, based firmly on what we negotiated in 2004.
"It is a treaty in which all key Irish interests are fully reflected. Its ratification will be good for Europe and good for Ireland," he said, adding that it will be opposed by a "rag-tag collection of anti-Europe campaigners", such as Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins and French far right campaigner, National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.
Fine Gael's Lucinda Creighton said the don't know figures highlighted the Government's "abject failure" to engage with the public on European issues.
"Fianna Fáil is once again in danger of bungling a vital EU treaty referendum through inaction and complacency . . . the disturbing number of don't knows shows a large information deficit rather than inherent anti-Europe or anti-treaty feelings," she said.
Labour TD, Joe Costello said the latest poll showed that support figures were well down on what the European constitutional treaty - the one negotiated during Ireland's time at the helm of the Presidency - had enjoyed.
