Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

I am delighted that the Minister of State, Deputy Roche, is in attendance for this debate. It is great to have him in the House given his role in the formulation of the Lisbon treaty. There is no doubt that the rejection of the referendum represents a significant embarrassment for the Government. On this occasion, we were on the Government's side. It is not as if due warning had not been given, but the Government was not listening. In this House I spoke about a survey I conducted in the streets of Galway, involving 115 people, three weeks ago. Nine of ten of those people told me the Government had not adequately explained the treaty. That was with three weeks to go. Two thirds of the people I met said they had low to very poor knowledge of the treaty. I agree with Members on the other side of the House that this treaty was rejected because people were confused. There was a poor campaign by the Government largely, as my colleague, Senator Regan, said——