Getting people to vote in the second Nice Referendum will be a huge challenge, the Referendum Commission admitted yesterday.
The commission chairman, Mr Justice Tom Finlay, said that encouraging people to vote would have to be allied with a serious effort to arm them with information upon which their decision to vote can be properly made.
The commission no longer has a statutory role in outlining the arguments for and against referendum proposals following amendments to the Referendum Act made at the end of last year.
But it will be the role of the commission to explain the subject matter of the Nice referendum to the population as simply and effectively as possible, Mr Justice Finlay said.
The commission will take a three-pronged approach to the Nice campaign, he added. It will prepare statements explaining the subject matter of the referendum proposal, publish and circulate information to as many people as possible, and encourage the electorate to vote.
Mr Justice Finlay said the Commission is going to make full use of the additional time it has in the run-up to the second Nice Referendum compared to other referendums. This is due to the fact that the Government established this commission at an earlier stage than in previous referendums.
He said it would be "futile and unreal" to urge people to vote in the referendum unless they were given adequate information on the subject matter.
It is planned to circulate every home in Ireland with leaflets explaining the issues.
"We realise, however, that this is not an easy task and that there is no simplistic way of explaining the terms of the Treaty of Nice or the possible consequences involved in its acceptance or rejection," Mr Justice Finlay said.
"We have to persuade the people that if they do not bother to vote they place important matters which may seriously affect them and their affairs freely into the hands of others with no responsibility to them."
The commission hopes to distribute information leaflets on the European institutions as soon as the referendum legislation is passed in mid-September, and to follow this up with more material nearer the time of the vote.
It also hoped for the first time to buy advertising slots in cinemas so as to attract the youth vote. The commission is particularly anxious to target the 25 to 30 age group.