The Dáil is recalled on rare occasions to debate matters deemed to be of major public importance. Such were the circumstances in which it sat over the last two days to put the mechanisms in place for the second referendum within eighteen months on the Nice Treaty. But if the Dáil debate was intended to enthuse a divided electorate, inspire voters with a vision of a new Europe, and allay false fears, it was predictable, dull and routine. So far, there has been no real public engagement.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, opened the debate with the honest admission that political leaders bear a particular responsibility in the re-run of the referendum. "If we are honest", he said, "we failed effectively the last time to energise and enthuse the the public with a turn-out of barely more than a third." He then went, painstakingly, through four of the issues that caused genuine confusion last year: the right to nominate an Irish Commissioner; the balance on the Council of Ministers; qualified majority voting and enhanced co-operation. Mr Cowen also demonstrated that even if the referendum question is the same, acceptance of the Nice Treaty is being made conditional on an amendment to the Constitution to prevent Ireland from joining an EU common defence without the approval of the people in a referendum.
In an impassioned intervention, the retiring Labour leader, Mr Quinn, acknowledged that had the recent referendum to ban the death penalty been defeated, the Green Party would want to argue the case once again. If a border poll under the Belfast Agreement confirmed a unionist majority, Sinn Féin would not feel that the matter was forever closed. The new composition of the Dáil was reflected in the contributions of Mr John Gormley for the Green Party and Sinn Féin's parliamentary leader, Mr Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin. The notable feature of their speeches was that they ignored the fact that voters are being offered their own opt-out clause from an EU common defence pact in this referendum.
The debate inside the Dáil reflected the Yes and No perspectives of civic society outside. But, the most important points were made by Mr Quinn, reinforced later by the Fine Gael leader, Mr Kenny. The danger now is that the general public is more engaged with health and spending than the Nice Treaty. It would be a travesty if the Nice referendum were defeated because the Government had made false promises in the general election.