Will The Irish Go Green over the Lisbon Treaty?

I’ve not seen campaigning like I saw in Ireland over the controversial Lisbon Treaty for a long time. In fact, I’m not sure I remember ever seeing so many lampposts decorated with political propaganda and so many members of the public being fed information by various campaign groups.

So what is the Lisbon Treaty? Well that appears to be the question on the lips of most Irish citizens who have spent today voting on it. In short, it’s designed to bring the members of Europe closer together, and therefore allowing newly inducted Eastern European countries to integrate with their new western neighbors more easily. Of course, however, it’s not that easy. Much of the Treaty, which is widely regarded as complicated and unreadable, says that to achieve this countries would have to surrender many of their veto powers.

It’s this not so small print that has parts of Ireland shouting ‘Yes!’ and an increasing number shouting ‘No!!’

When I was in Dublin last weekend, the ‘no’ campaign was gaining moment – the people of Ireland, it seems, were awakening to the fact that surrendering power is not always a good thing. The ‘yes’ campaign, which is supported by the countries government, were on the back foot. But that looks set to change by tomorrow, early Exit polls are predicting a win for the ‘yes’ folks – as long as turnout is high. If it’s low then Europe faces the grave reality that one of its members, once a passionate supporter of its cause, may have a population that doesn’t want to be there. I’m sure I’ll blog on this when the result comes in tomorrow.

Whoever wins, from what I saw campaign democracy is alive and kicking in Ireland, which is more than can be said for the UK.