The ratification of the Nice Treaty should be an election issue and the Government was failing in its duty by ignoring it, according to outgoing Fine Gael TD and former taoiseach, Mr John Bruton. He claimed Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats were acting "as if the problem did not exist at all".
Mr Bruton told a news conference at Fine Gael headquarters in Dublin that securing endorsement of the treaty in a new referendum would be "the first major political task" to face the incoming government.
"It is amazing that the Government has failed to make an issue of the Nice Treaty in the campaign. Beyond a perfunctory statement that they will be campaigning for a Yes vote, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats have made no effort to tell the people truthfully the consequences of Ireland saying No to Nice a second time.
"We run the risk in the Nice referendum of being accused of concealing things from people if we don't talk about Nice in the general election."
When it was put to him that Mr Michael Noonan had not particularly highlighted the issue, Mr Bruton said: "He has asked me to be here to do so and I am doing it on behalf of the Fine Gael party."
The Government's representative at the Convention on the Future of Europe, Mr Ray MacSharry, was pursuing a "Euro-reluctant" approach, according to Mr Bruton, but a government led by Fine Gael would change this.
"Fianna Fáil only half-believe in what they are saying about Europe; Fine Gael believe 100 per cent in what they are saying about Europe.
"It is time for Bertie Ahern, Mary Harney and Ruairí Quinn to join with Fine Gael and lay out in simple terms the real consequences of a second No to Nice and the real reasons why the Irish people should change their mind."