Irish PM eyes Yes vote in crunch EU poll

October 03, 2009 08:10:55 AM

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Prime Minister Brian Cowen voiced cautious hope Friday that Irish voters would back the European Union's Lisbon Treaty in a crunch second referendum and end the 27-nation bloc's political deadlock.

After stunningly rejecting the treaty last year, three million Irish voters cast their ballots again in a new poll on the treaty aimed at simplifying decision-making for the EU, home to 500 million citizens.

Opinion polls have suggested that the Yes camp is set to win comfortably when the results are announced on Saturday.

Cowen has warned that another rejection would marginalise Ireland in Europe and damage its attempts to reverse a deep recession.

Leaders across the continent are also watching the poll anxiously. Most want an end to the constitutional deadlock gripping the EU since 53.4 percent of Irish voters rejected the treaty in June 2008.

Cowen, who voted near his home in County Offaly, central Ireland, said he was cautiously confident of a Yes camp victory.

"It's an important day for the country and an important referendum and I hope that people will take the opportunity to go out and cast their vote," he said, according to the Irish Examiner newspaper's website.

"The people's decision is sovereign and of course that will be the case but I'm hopeful that in the context of today... we'll have a good outcome."

A total of 3,078,032 Irish citizens are eligible to vote. The polls close at 10:00 pm (2100 GMT), with full results not expected until Saturday afternoon.

Turnout was slower than last year by midday at some polling stations, possibly due to morning rain, RTE state television said.

Earlier, Cowen made a last-ditch bid for a Yes vote, writing in The Irish Sun newspaper that it was needed "to build a positive future for Ireland".

But businessman Declan Ganley, who led the victorious No camp last year wrote in the same tabloid: "The truth about this treaty is it's great for politicians, and bad for us.

"In the face of bullying, strong-arming and thug tactics from the Yes side, we can stand up and strike a blow for the ordinary people."

The final opinion poll before the vote, in the Sunday Business Post newspaper, put support for the treaty at 55 percent, with 27 percent planning to vote against.

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power made the Yes vote overwhelming favourite.

The Irish Independent newspaper urged people to vote Yes, saying Ireland would risk its advantageous relationship with the EU if it rejected it.

"It would be extremely damaging to lose that goodwill; silly to throw it away without a very good reason. To do so in the midst of recession would be perverse in the extreme," it said.

However, there are concerns that some voters will use the referendum to kick Cowen's unpopular government over the spectacular collapse of Ireland's long-booming "Celtic Tiger" economy.

The Irish Daily Mail newspaper asked: "Should we, like frightened children in the dark, reach out for the EU comfort blanket?"

Ireland is the only EU country constitutionally obliged to put the treaty to a referendum. Of the 27 EU states, Poland and the Czech Republic are the only others yet to ratify it.

Dublin agreed to hold another poll after securing guarantees on key policy areas which it felt were behind last year's rejection, such as its military neutrality, abortion and tax laws.

Even if Irish voters back the treaty, further obstacles remain.

In Prague on Friday, the Czech constitutional court ordered President Vaclav Klaus -- who in any case is a fierce opponent of the Lisbon Treaty -- to hold off signing it into force.

The Irish result is also being closely watched in Britain where opposition leader David Cameron, tipped to win elections due by next June, has pledged to hold a referendum if Lisbon is not ratified when and if he takes power.

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