Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-05-20-Speech-2-402"
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"en.20080520.29.2-402"2
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"Thank you very much for these relevant questions. What about knowing public opinion? Well, we have our opinion polls through the Eurobarometer which give us a lot of guidance and where we can also identify some of the information needs. On top of that, of course, different opinion polls are also carried out in every Member State to find out more of the details and to make it country-specific. So I think we can say that we have a fairly good basis of knowledge of what citizens expect and what they need when it comes to information, although I also think that it can vary a bit from one Member State to another.
I think that one of the lessons drawn in Ireland was the need to engage on a very broad scale and that is why the National Forum was set up; I think that, following visits from both myself and, most recently, President Barroso, we have tried to engage and listen to the National Forum and their needs and we are trying through our representation office to respond to those needs, while also respecting that there is always a very special situation when you have a referendum: for example, you also have to respect the McKenna legislation which is in place in Ireland. This of course restricts or sets very clear limits on what ministers or the government can do.
At the same time we have a general obligation to engage and provide information, which cannot be taken away from us, and I think that this is how we have learnt how to engage with the National Forum and also how to do more using the media and with young people especially, but also with women because in our experience they are the ones who very often feel alienated and distant from the debate. That is also where we have to use modern communication tools like the internet: another lesson learnt is that we have to engage through the internet."@en1
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