ALARM THAT Irish children could be conscripted into an EU army featured high on the list of reasons why people rejected the Lisbon Treaty, research commissioned by the Government has found.
However, people still hold generally positive attitudes to EU membership and want Ireland to be at the heart of Europe, according to the research conducted in the wake of the rejection by voters of the Lisbon Treaty.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said the research was being finalised and would be published in the next two weeks. He said there were a range of issues pinpointed as reasons why people voted for or against the treaty but a significant number of them held the view that ratifying "Lisbon would have meant conscription".
"Conscription is significantly more [important] than one might have thought. A significant number were of a view that Lisbon would have meant conscription," said Mr Martin, who noted fears that Ireland would lose its commissioner were also a factor in the rejection of the treaty.
Speaking on the margins of an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Avignon, France, yesterday, Mr Martin also said the No vote to the treaty had prompted questions from US investors about Ireland's future commitment to Europe. "We need to be careful into the future that we don't marginalise ourselves . . . I think that would have detrimental impact on the Irish economy and prospects into the future," he said.
Mr Martin also said the Georgian crisis had hardened his EU counterparts' resolve to implement Lisbon because it would strengthen EU foreign policy, boost energy solidarity and introduce reforms to enable future enlargement of the Union.
Poland and the Czech Republic are pushing for Ukraine to be offered the prospect of EU membership to bolster its position against Russia. But France and Germany insist this can't happen without the implementation of Lisbon.
Mr Martin said he could not yet predict when the Government would be able to tell its EU partners how it would respond to the rejection of the treaty. But he said the Government was committed to the EU and would use the research conducted by polling firm Millward Brown IMS to begin a national consultation process on Europe and chart a way forward.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen accepted last night that the Government made mistakes during the referendum campaign. "People made the decision. I would have to say if I was to run that again would I run it differently? The answer is 'yes'," he said in an interview on the Late Late Show on RTÉ.
Cowen accepts mistakes were made over Lisbon; Libertas chief denies political fundraising: page 5