The Government is to close down the National Forum on Europe in a further effort to curtail public expenditure.
In a statement today, the Government said the decision had been taken “against the backdrop of the current budgetary situation in which the Government finds itself, and the necessity to review all areas of expenditure”.
The forum, which is chaired by Dr Maurice Hayes, was established in 2001 to facilitate debate on Ireland's membership of the European Union following a No vote in the Nice Treaty referendum.
The Government said forum’s role in debating the importance of the European Union would be taken over by the Oireachtas Sub-Committee on Ireland’s Future in Europe (SCIFE).
The Government acknowledged the contribution the forum has made to the debate but said “the fact that it has provided a good focus for debate does not automatically mean it should continue indefinitely”.
Labour MEP Proinsias De Rossa denounced the move as a “false economy”, claiming that cost-cutting on the promotion of public debate on European issues would prove disastrous and expensive in the long run.
“2009 is the most important year in the history of this country’s relations with the EU. Given the upcoming European elections and referendum, combined with the economic downturn and the urgent need for us to step up our engagement with the EU, the closure of the key facilitator of national discussion on Ireland’s place in Europe will have severe political and economic repercussions,” he said.
Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins claimed the move was a “calculated strategy to strangle a wide-ranging and democratic debate in the months leading up to Lisbon referendum”.
“The Government simply never accepted the defeat of the Lisbon Treaty and is now making sinister moves to try and ensure an establishment victory next time,” he said.
A forum spokeswoman confirmed it had been notified by the Government of its decision to close the body.
The agency was allocated an increased budget of €3 million last year to allow it undertake an extensive information campaign in the six months leading up to the Lisbon Treaty referendum.
In addition to publishing a summary guide to the treaty, the forum held 23 regional meetings and 13 plenary meetings in Dublin with a number of high-level speakers.
Earlier, Labour’s spokesman on European affairs Joe Costello his party had "no idea that the Government was even contemplating this action" until party leader Eamon Gilmore received a letter this morning from the Taoiseach.
In the letter, Mr Cowen said there was no need for the forum in the light of the work of Oireachtas Committee on Ireland’s Future in the European Union.
Mr Costello said the move could be “a very short-sighted and expensive decision" as Ireland prepares for another referendum.
Fine Gael spokeswoman on European affairs, Lucinda Creighton, welcomed the decision and said the Oireachtas was the "appropriate forum" for the debate of such matters.
"The Forum on Europe had degenerated into a talking-shop, dominated by the social partners. Most of the 'representatives' who participated in the forum had no mandate and did not represent any clear constituency. The Forum had become a very, very expensive forum of hot air," she said.
