THE DEPARTMENT of Foreign Affairs is expected to decide at the end of next week which professional polling company will carry out a comprehensive survey of public opinion in relation to the Lisbon Treaty, as part of the Government's analysis of the outcome of the referendum.
The project was put out to tender at the end of last month, the deadline for submissions is next Tuesday and the contract is likely to be awarded by the end of next week. The results are to be presented by early September so they can be incorporated into preparations for the EU summit the following month.
The proposal has been sent to a number of leading experts in the field under the direct invitation procedure set out in the Department of Finance public procurement guidelines and has also been placed on the Government's e-tenders website. The department organised a briefing session for potential tenderers on Wednesday of this week.
Government sources said the survey would cover "a bigger sample than the normal opinion poll for a newspaper". In seeking to discover why voters either supported or opposed the treaty, special attention would be paid to age, gender and geographical location.
Funding for the survey will be provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs and it is expected that the results will be made publicly available eventually.
Addressing a joint meeting of the European Affairs and European Scrutiny committees at Leinster House yesterday, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said the objective was "to clarify the reasons why people voted the way they did and to provide deeper insight into public attitudes towards the union".
"This will represent an important initial step in identifying a way forward," he added. "The survey should not be seen as an end in itself. It will be one part of the consultations we all need to undertake in the coming period.
The reasons behind the No vote were "many and varied" and issues that gave rise to difficulties during the campaign included "the complexity of the text, which facilitated those who sought to misrepresent its contents; the perceived loss of Irish influence within the EU institutions; defence issues and social/moral questions".
Fine Gael MEP Gay Mitchell expressed concern about the approach that might be taken by French president Nicolas Sarkozy on his forthcoming visit to Ireland because "the last thing" that was needed was the president "riding into town" to give instructions on how to rescue the treaty.
Questioning the usefulness of the Referendum Commission, he asked: "Did they have any impact on this referendum?" In relation to the "excellent" Forum on Europe, he asked: "Does it impact beyond a certain elite?" Mr Mitchell was also sharply critical of RTÉ's performance as "a public service provider", saying he did not believe any independent analysis would find that RTÉ played a "fair and balanced" role in the referendum.
Responding to Mr Mitchell's remarks, Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan said he was reminded of "a tight county final" where the referee's role was always called into question.
Fine Gael TD John Perry, chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, said there should be "a dedicated office within the Oireachtas to provide neutral information to the public" on EU matters, as was the case in the Danish political system.
Labour TD Joe Costello called for publication of the Attorney General's opinion on the treaty and the need to hold a referendum. He said the Attorney General should be asked to "look again" at the treaty to see which items required a referendum and which did not.
