No excuse

By Grace Campbell

When the Lisbon Treaty was not passed the first time, one of the biggest reasons for young people voting against the treaty was due to a lack of information on what it consisted of and what effects it had for Ireland. The government was blamed for not placing enough emphasis on the treaty. However, young people should have looked at the effort they themselves had made to become familiar with the Treaty’s contents.

This time around, there is no excuse. Posters, leaflets and websites have been set up in abundance to inform and educate Irish citizens about Europe and the Lisbon Treaty. The people of Ireland have been given every opportunity to find out about the treaty and cannot use a lack of information as a reason to vote No or not vote at all.

Campaigns for the Yes and No vote have been criticised for over-dramatising the contents of the Treaty and its impact on Ireland’s future but the onus is on people themselves to make their own choice about the Treaty and not to just listen to the opinions of political parties.

“TalktoEU” (http://www.talktoeu.ie/) is a website and Facebook page, which allows people to ask questions about the EU and make comments about EU issues. The mission of the page is “To inform people about the EU and what it does, and can do for you, using clear and simple facts.”

Photo albums on the page include "Who is who of the EU Commission" and a recent discussion on the page was “With only three weeks to go until the referendum, how do you feel the Yes and No campaigns are dealing with the Lisbon Treaty?”

“TalktoEU” is utilising Facebook as a way of getting young people involved with Europe. All questions asked are answered and young people can share their opinions and educate other friends on the page. This is one of a number of initiatives set up for young people to take advantage of in the run up to the referendum.

There is no excuse for the people of Ireland not to vote on October 2^nd in the Lisbon Treaty referendum. So the next time you are checking your status updates on Facebook or your friends' holiday snaps on their homepage, give the “TalktoEU” page a quick look. You never know what you could learn or teach others.