No campaign concedes defeat as Ireland swings behind Nice (FOURTH REICH ALERT)

The Sunday Telegraph ^ | October 20, 2002 | Alan Ruddock

[MadIvan]

Ireland has emphatically endorsed the European Union's expansion plan just 16 months after rejecting it, it became clear last night.

The scale of the Yes vote will not be known until later today, but returns from seven constituencies which had used electronic voting early this morning showed a massive increase in support for the Treaty of Nice and a significant rise in voter turnout.

The margin of victory was more than 70-30 in some constituencies while in Dublin South West, which had recorded the largest No vote in the previous referendum, an 18-point swing saw a comfortable 57 per cent majority in favour of the December 2000 Treaty.

The average Yes vote across the seven constituencies was 66 per cent. Leaders of the No campaign conceded defeat within minutes of the first results as the scale of the swing in favour of the Treaty became apparent.

Voter turnout, which had fallen below 35 per cent in the first referendum, was expected to be close to 45 per cent. The low turnout was deemed a critical factor in the Treaty's defeat in June 2001.

Mary Harney, the deputy prime minister and leader of the Progressive Democrats, said last night that she was "very pleased with the results so far and I'm confident that these results will be reflected in the country at large".

She warned, however, that European leaders should not be lulled by Ireland's change of heart. "Ireland has never sought to gain at others' expense and this vote was about expansion but perhaps they should learn a lesson from what has happened in Ireland.

We are not going to support a United States of Europe and anyone who tries to fast-track the agenda will find out that we will not buy into it. We want subsidiarity, and we want to play an active part in Europe," she said.

John Bruton, the former prime minister, said he was delighted with the early results.

The poll will come as a massive relief to other member states of the European Union, all of which have ratified the Treaty without holding referendums.

If Ireland had rejected it for a second time it could have delayed for at least three years the plans to bring new members such as Hungary, Poland, Latvia and the Czech Republic into the EU.

It will also ease pressure on Bertie Ahern, the Republic's prime minister and Harney's coalition partner, who shouldered much of the blame for his people's failure to endorse the treaty in the first referendum.

This time the government and the main opposition parties left little to chance: they outspent the anti-treaty campaign by a factor of 10 and played heavily on fears of what Ireland could lose by turning its back on Europe's ambitions.

To encourage a higher voter turnout the government chose to hold the referendum on a Saturday, the first time that a national poll had been held outside the working week.

[MadIvan]

A black day for Irish independence. One item that has been rarely mentioned - part of the referendum regarded a constitutional change, making it so that all future questions of this nature are referred to the Dail (into the hands of the politicians) rather than placed before the people in a referendum. According to the lovely and charming Happygal, this was not clearly spelled out on the ballot paper.

The EU may have won this round, but Eurosceptic defiance continues.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[Brian Allen]

<< The low turnout was deemed a critical factor in the Treaty's defeat in June 2001. >>

And/or was grasped upon by Brussel's FRankensteinian, fascisocialist Neo-Soviet as rationalization and justification for repudiating the will of Irelend's Citizenry.

As you have noted, Dear Ivan, it is indeed a black day for Irish independence.

And another step toward the inevitable failure of the Brussel's monster.

As pre-ordaned, that is, as was that of the Moscow model of which it is but a poorly Xeroxed, "third way," facsimile.

FReegards -- Brian

[MadIvan]

I will add more grist to the mill regarding EU stupidity presently.

Regards, Ivan

[thedugal]

I hate it when the first news article I read for the day is such a major disappointment. Seems to happen damn near everyday tho! I am not against nations coming together, even smaller states joining to create larger states. But I am diametrically opposed to socialist super states forming to finalize the global regime we see being born before our very eyes.

EU is no US. EU is exactly as MadIvan refers to it, the 4th Reich, the return of the Roman Empire, or whichever apocolyptic euphemism you prefer. Is it me or didn't we already try the Union of Socialist States once before? If memory serves me correctly a 100 million dead later we decided it wasn't such a good idea. Seems a bit odd to give it another go just 10 years later.

[Happygal]

Depression, depression, depression.
*sigh*

[MadIvan]

Don't be. Chin up, love. This is not over by any means, and if I know anything about you and your country, the spirit of defiance is something that can never be scrubbed out of your character.

Tomorrow, we will do better, love.

Love, Ivan

[arthurus]

This may be an illustration of the great potential of electronic voting machines. Voting patterns may change drastically in precincts with these machines as programmers are able to program in the correct results before the election itself.

[weikel]

Vote fraud.

[HennepinPrisoner]

Well, I am beginning to think my mother was correct when she said that all of this has been prophesized(sp?) in the Bible. And that the anti-Christ is supposed to come out of the EU.

I may read that Hal Lindsey book yet.

[weikel]

Partially gut partially by the fact the Irish rejected it last time and tend to be stubborn... ill await intelligence from Happygal.