Lisbon Treaty

Can you tell I’m trying to play catch up, my dear readers?

On Friday, 2nd October, more than 50% of Irish voters went to their local schools and community centers to “check yes or no.”  It wasn’t quite like this,

Check Yes or No

But, it was more important.  The Irish were voting on whether to allow their government to sign the Lisbon Treaty, which sets up a constitution for the European Union. 

This is the second time the referendum was put to the voters, in 2008, about 16 months ago, they voted it down.  This time around, over 60% voted Yes.  My whole time here in Dublin, I’ve seen the signs and been handed flyers.  I’ve had to tell people I wasn’t Irish so they wouldn’t waste their time trying to convince me of the Treaty’s merits or faults.  Most of my Irish friends are Yesers, so my limited information is a bit skewed. From what I learned, the treaty does give the EU more power and more well defined roles in foreign and economic policy, and it does proportion the parliament according to population, taking away some of Ireland’s votes.  But the EU is the reason for Ireland’s prosperity and the Celtic Tiger.  Had they voted down Lisbon, it could have meant Ireland was on a different tier of the EU, having to ally itself more with the UK, and after centuries of fighting to get out from under Britain, that’s really not a good alternative. 

I went with a friend to check out a polling place, very underwhelming.  No signs, no protestors, nothing.  I later found out that it’s illegal to do so.  The news can’t even have on going coverage.  Such a different atmosphere from when I voted for President last year.  I walked through demonstrations on campus and about 6,000 signs outside my polling place.  Is Ireland the better for that?  I don’t know, but it did make the polling place less crowded.