Only one in three Irish support EU Costitution, but strongly support EU
THE number of Irish people who say they support the European Constitution stands at just one-in-three - the third lowest level of support among all 25 member countries. An analysis of a poll carried out in May and June shows half of those questioned said they had no opinion on the document designed to guide the EU in the future. The constitution is in limbo after rejection by France and the Netherlands. The number opposed to the document has grown from 5% last November to 13% but the number supporting the document has also increased from 28% to 37%. Those with no opinion have dropped from a high of 67%. In the latest poll 63% of those queried said they knew nothing about the contents of the constitution. It was two years in preparation and members of the Dáil and the government were directly involved. The lack of knowledge was confirmed by a short quiz in which over half the Irish mistakenly believed the constitution would do away with national citizenship and introduce a direct European tax. Almost half of the 13% of Irish people who said they are opposed to the Treaty are concerned about loss of sovereignty; believe the EU is not democratic enough; don't want Turkey to join the EU or are simply opposed to the Irish government or particular political parties. Those who say they were most knowledgeable about the constitution were the Dutch and French who rejected the new treaty in referendums. However, there were still about two thirds in both countries that admitted their knowledge of the treaty was poor.The Belgians, whose government has ratified the constitution, are its biggest fans with 70% favouring it, while the British are the most opposed at 30%, with 31% in favour and 39% saying they don't know. Despite Irish ambivalence about the constitution on which final agreement among EU leaders was negotiated by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, the Irish are the most positive of all about the union.
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