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DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland will go ahead with its referendum on the European constitution even if France rejects it in a crucial poll on Sunday. After the government published a bill on Thursday to enable a referendum to be held, Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said: "We will proceed in any event. Renegotiation is not on the agenda." EU officials say if France votes "No" by a large margin, the treaty is probably doomed. Two new polls put French opposition at 55 percent and a third at 54 percent. Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, eager to defuse "No" campaigners, on Friday denied...

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...

The Celtic economic miracle has a wilted look in Irishtown by the River Liffey, where the Irish Glass Bottle Company has laid off hundreds of workers this year. Building projects stand idle as the 1990s boom unwinds and government cuts start to bite. The posters in the windows bark "No 2 Nice: No To A Bosses' Europe". It is Sinn Fein territory. Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour, all in favour of the treaty, are too posh these days for the working class. Street after street of poky terrace houses gave Gerry Adams a rock star welcome as he charged...

Ireland goes to the polls on Saturday in the country's second referendum on the Nice Treaty, which paves the way for the European Union to accept new members from central and eastern Europe.Not really. There could be individual treaties of accession. What this treaty does is expand the powers of the EU. - Ivan Ireland voted no to the treaty in an earlier referendum last year, and the government has argued strongly for a yes vote this time. This is what is most outrageous. Ireland voted no in a free and fair referendum. What part of "No" don't these blighters...

As the process of expanding the European Union reaches a critical stage, all eyes are on Dublin and The Hague this week. If Irish voters reject the Nice Treaty for a second time on October 19th, the enlargement timetable could be at risk. The collapse of the Dutch government is likely to complicate matters further CRITICS say it’s a case of the tail wagging the dog. Europe’s small countries certainly have a habit of wrecking carefully prepared plans for European integration. The Danes did it in 1992, when they voted against the Maastricht Treaty. In June last year, it was...

The last opinion poll before tomorrow's Irish referendum on the Nice Treaty showed its supporters widening their lead, but low turnout and anger at having to vote twice on the same question could still lead to a dramatic upset.> Bertie Ahern, the Irish prime minister, implored Ireland's 1.6 million voters yesterday to look beyond self-interest and think of their duty to the less lucky nations hoping to join the European Union. And save his job in the process - Ivan "I say to the Irish people that Saturday is a date with history, not only for us but for Europe...

It is no longer cool, alas, to write articles bashing Brussels. My Nasty days are over. New Toryism is with us, in which scepticism is balanced by a strenuous moderation, a painful, tight-grinned reasonableness. That's fine Boris, you keep your mouth shut - meanwhile the party faithful will be screaming their dissent - Ivan Some of my most joyous hours have been spent in a state of semi-incoherence, composing foam-flecked hymns of hate to the latest Euro-infamy: the ban on the prawn cocktail flavour crisp; the billions spent to export unsmokable Greek tobacco to the Third World; the European Commission's...

Insider notes from United Press International for Oct. 16 ... The odds are suddenly lengthening against the expected smooth progress toward enlarging the European Union by 10 member states at next week's special Brussels summit. First, Sunday's Irish referendum is in trouble, with the trade unions breaking ranks with the consensus among the main political parties and calling for a "No" vote --- which would certainly hold up the enlargement process. Worse still, Wednesday's collapse of the new Dutch government followed a bitter row among the right-of-center coalition parties, with senior Liberals and Christian Democrats claiming that Poland, Latvia, Lithuania...

The European Union's ambitious plan to take in 10 more member countries is hanging on the verdict of voters from Ballinskellig to Dundalk, as Ireland prepares for its second referendum on the Nice Treaty on enlargement next weekend. The latest opinion poll, published today by the Irish Sunday Independent, gives the Yes campaign a solid majority with 41 per cent in favour and 27 per cent against. The large number of undecided voters - 24 per cent - gives hope, however, to the treaty's opponents and leaves Yes campaigners nervous. Two weeks before the first referendum in June 2001, opinion...

About 20 Irish journalists have been spending a couple of days in Brussels this week at the invitation of the European Commission and Parliament. With Ireland's crucial vote on the EU's Nice Treaty coming up in a fortnight, they have been treated to the best on offer in the "capital of Europe" - mussels and beer, and liberal helpings of pro-Europe propaganda. This would not have worked on an Irish journalist of my acquaintance. Rather, she would have been offended by the idea that they think she could be bribed. I suspect the Irish as a whole feel the same...

They sound quaintly rustic but nowadays the Irish national ploughing championships are the biggest event in the rural calendar, less a relic of a bygone era than a testament to the generosity of European agriculture subsidies. Here, among the gleaming tractors and the well-upholstered farmers gathered in the countryside of Co Laois, south of Dublin, Bertie Ahern, Ireland's prime minister, was to be found preaching the virtues of European Union membership to people who should need little convincing. Yet behind Mr Ahern's genial smile lurked a deep anxiety. On Oct 19, Ireland's voters go to the polls in a re-run...

Ireland will hold a second referendum on the Nice Treaty on EU enlargement on October 19, Prime Minister Bertie Ahern has announced.Typical EU behaviour, if they don't like the answer the first time, rather than think about what they propose, just keep having referenda until the answer changes - Ivan He said that another "no" vote would be catastrophic for the country.Last year's vote sent shockwaves across Europe. In June, a report revealed that thanks in part to the Euro, Ireland had become the second most expensive country in Europe (Finland is number 1); that's a real catatstrophe - Ivan...