Poll shows majority would vote Yes for Lisbon Treaty
For the second time in less than a fortnight a poll has suggested there is now a majority in Ireland which would vote Yes for the Lisbon Treaty in a second referendum.
The Millward Brown/IMS poll published today in the Irish Independent showed 63% of decided voters would vote ’Yes’, with 37% voting ’No’.
However when the undecided were included in the figures those in favour dropped to 46% and those opposed to 27%, with 27% undecided.
An Irish Times /TNS mrbi poll published in the middle of the month said 51% would back the controversial treaty now, with 33% opposed and the undecided put at 16%.
The global recession and Ireland’s economic crisis is behind the turnaround, according to commentators.
Last June voters rejected the treaty by a margin of 53.4% voting ’No’ to 46.6% voting 'Yes'.
The treaty aimed at strengthening EU institutions has to be ratified by all 27 member states before it can take effect. Ireland was the only one to give its people a say in a referendum.
A second go at getting a Yes vote has been pencilled in for October, but the Government is understood to be considering trying earlier – possibly when the country goes to the polls on June 5 for the elections to the European Parliament.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin, speaking at the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis (annual conference) in Dublin last night said since Ireland’s No vote Irish embassy staff around the world spent a lot of time convincing people the country was not pulling out of the EU.
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