The 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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