"The Lisbon Treaty In 30 Minutes"

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin T.D., has said that the new '30 Minute Guide to the Lisbon Treaty' "represents a further notable addition to the information available to the public on the Lisbon Treaty. This fulfills the Government's promise to make accessible information on the Treaty available as widely as possible. The Guide, which can be read in about 30 minutes, will give readers a good sense of the main elements of the Lisbon Treaty. It also explains the package of legal guarantees and assurances secured by Ireland in June, which make the Lisbon Treaty a very different proposition for us this year. If we ratify Lisbon, we now get to keep our Commissioner and have legally-binding guarantees on taxation, neutrality and ethical issues such as the right to life."

The Minister said that voters would wish "to make their own informed assessment of the merits of the treaty before they vote in the referendum on Friday, October 2. The 30 Minute Guide is designed to meet that need."

The Guide sets out the main contents of the Treaty, explains how it was negotiated and how the European Union responded to the concerns of the Irish people with a new package of legal guarantees and assurances.

Minister Martin said he was confident that the factual and balanced information now available will go a long way to address the information deficit which, according to independent research, evidently existed in the run-up to last year's referendum.

This new 30 Minute Guide to the Lisbon Treaty is part of a series of information materials being prepared by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Materials available include an explanatory White Paper, an information postcard sent to every household in July and a dedicated Lisbon Treaty website. Each of these publications is designed to provide information on the Treaty at varying levels of detail.

The new guide can be downloaded from the the Government's Lisbon Treaty website.