Hope you are doing well Rob. Poker > WoW

Be good

David

I don’t know whether it was a majority of votes, but I certainly got a strong impression from many Irish people that they were voting not against Lisbon, but as a general protest against the level of immigration to Ireland. Perhaps in some parts of the country, things have gone better - but certainly in the West and in the border counties, and indeed in parts of Dublin, I’ve seen first-hand serious racial tensions that go beyond anything I’ve seen in Britain.

I agree, though, that most of the No vote was a rebuke to the Government and to Brussels - and on that point, I think it was richly deserved. If a document is on the one hand presented as essential, and on the other hand, utterly incomprehensible - then there’s no sensible thing to do other than to reject it and demand something clearer and more defined.

And yes, how the EU handles this No vote is going to be absolutely crucial to the perception of the union by its people. If Ireland is strong-armed into ratifying the treaty in some manner, I suspect the EU may find the rug swept from under its feet in public support terms.

A lot of the no vote came from a petulant rebuke to both the government, which could only shake a finger at people, European politicians showing the stick and a strong belief that a better agreement could be created on various hard to understand issues about how power would be shared and changes of rights. That most of the real issues were actually non-issues was not strongly contested enough by the Yes camp because even they were having trouble understanding the treaty. It was a bitch to sell - so people played safe and voted no - let the politicians get something better or clearer, sure didn’t we vote again for Nice.

For what it’s worth I voted Yes, but I am very interested in seeing how this is all handled. It’s a real test for people looking to further their agenda’s via Europe but being held back by the silly democratic tendencies of a small Island nation.