The 'No's seem to have it
Ruth Dudley Edwards 1:10pmThe Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs is already making excuses, so I think it’s all over. As a friend, who voted Yes because Sinn Fein were Nos, texted from Dublin: ‘The Nos to the left and the Nos to the right have it.’
This is from Breaking News at the Irish Times at 12.39:
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin today blamed a perceived lack of information for the poor showing of the Yes vote as indicated by early tallies.
Asked where things went wrong, Mr Martin, director of Fianna Fáil’s referendum campaign, said: "People were on the doorstep were saying 'I still don't know enough about this treaty'." This was a "significant" factor, the Minister claimed.
The Minister said he was not blaming the Referendum Commission but said there was a sense that the treaty "just didn't register" and "lacked a clear tangible".
He added there was a "general sense of giving away too much power" and that there were lessons for Europe and Ireland in "reconnecting" with voters.
Referring to his own Cork constituency, Mr Martin said he would have liked a bigger voter turnout in certain areas. "The trends are not what we would have preferred."
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Comments
Austin Barry
June 13th, 2008 1:21pmOh, dear, we have, to paraphrase W.B.Yeats, disgraced ourselves again. Excellent.
cuffleyburgers
June 13th, 2008 1:27pmTimes On Line also carrying news of a NO.
Mine's a Guinness!
Nick Kaplan
June 13th, 2008 1:32pmThis is the ultimate irony, I have read many a quote from senior EU bureaucrats saying how they would deliberately make the Constitution so complicated and long that no person could read or understand it and therefore would not vote against it. How fantastic if they’ve fallen on their own sword.
Travis Bickle
June 13th, 2008 1:37pm"Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin today blamed a perceived lack of information"
Ignorant voters deliver wrong results... Democracy as viewed in the EU.
Can always rely on the Irish.
June 13th, 2008 1:47pmIrish eyes are smiling!
Alex
June 13th, 2008 1:48pmExcellent news! I'll join cuffleyburgers for a Guinness
Leona
June 13th, 2008 1:56pmGet the Guinness out and put a shamrock in your hair.
Woo hoo!
Michael Hargrave
June 13th, 2008 1:56pmThank God the people of the Republic of Ireland have managed to restore a small measure of democracy in our increasingly autocratic EU. Fantastic.
GB has already phoned Sarkozy to say that UK will ratify the treaty - he would wouldn't he?
Kevyn Bodman
June 13th, 2008 2:01pmSKYNEWS have reported that Barroso 'doesn't have a Plan B'.
I am, shall we say, hesitant about giving credence to that.
How long will it be until Ireland is invited to try again?
Glen Oglaza on SKY has said that some in EU HQ in Brussels are angry.
Which leads to the question 'Who do they think they are?'
Well, they think they are our leaders and rulers and that the running of the EU is really none of our business.
Let's truly make it none of our business, by getting out.
Leona
June 13th, 2008 2:02pmI hope all the staff are Riverdancing round the Speccie's office.
Come on, Rod Liddle, put those fags down and get some air in your lungs.
Ted Tedford
June 13th, 2008 2:04pm"The trends are not what we would have preferred."
I'll say. This is on a par with Hirohito's observation in August 1945 that "the situation has developed not necessarily to our advantage."
The Irish no is the equivalent of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the whole vile EU constitution project. Well done them.
Leona
June 13th, 2008 2:06pmUp yours, Delors, and the horse you rode in on and the whole expense-sponging cavalry behind you.
Guy Incognito
June 13th, 2008 2:30pmTed Tedford: It's more like the end of Terminator 2. Having been destroyed already, the T2000-EU constitution evolved into something not-very-subtley different, and came back for more. Most people just gave up hope of finishing it off, like Sarah Connor when she runs out of shot-gun shells.
But the Irish no was the obsolete T101 on a conveyor belt with a grenade launcher, that has blown the T2000 apart and into the lava. Let's hope it stays dead.
Mind you, with the UK creating a satellite system called Skynet, it doesn't bode well.
Chris
June 13th, 2008 2:32pmWonderful news - God bless the voters of Ireland and their beautiful country. You have restored my faith in politics.
Leona
June 13th, 2008 2:41pmThe Irish Say It’s Over
(To the tune of The Irish Rover)
On the 12th day of June, Two Thousand and Eight
We set off for the referendum ballot box
We wanted to say: “We have enough mate,
We’ve seen right through this treacherous hoax.”
T’was a wonderful day, to have our democratic say
After the rest were railroaded into a pushover.
We gave a piece of our mind, said we wouldn’t fund their slime,
The Irish weren’t gonna roll over.
James
June 13th, 2008 2:47pmGod love the Irish.
Ireland Rocks
June 13th, 2008 2:48pmWhat's the betting Bernard Kouchner saying 'The Irish will suffer dire consequences if they vote no' swung it for the NO campaign. HA HA HA!
Come on you Irish
June 13th, 2008 2:51pmAlready the establishment are blaming 'the influence of elements of the British media' and 'the American Military' for this voting down of the Lisbon Treaty/EU Constitution. Desperate.