Referendum Briefing. The Second Referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon in Ireland, 2 October 2009

Abstract

Ireland held a re-run of the Lisbon Treaty referendum on 2 October 2009. In response to the Treaty's rejection by referendum in June 2008 the government secured legal guarantees on: a commissioner for each member state, taxation, neutrality, social issues, and workers' rights. Despite the backdrop of a serious economic crisis, Ireland voted by 67.1% to 32.9% to pass the treaty, on the back of a 58% turnout. This represented a swing of 20% from the No to Yes side from the first Lisbon referendum. There were strong levels of public knowledge about and engagement in the Treaty, aided by substantive media engagement and an active referendum commission.

The Puzzle of Double Referendums in the European Union

“…The existing literature highlights the vigour , energy and effectiveness of the second‐round Yes campaigns in the Maastricht and Nice double referendums and identifies that change as the main causal factor in overturning the verdicts (e.g. FitzGibbon, , ; Garry et al ., ; Hobolt, ; O'Brennan, ; Qvortrup, ). Yet these studies mostly provide anecdotal evidence for the shift in campaigns.…”

Citizens against Europe? Civil Society and Eurosceptic Protest in Ireland, the United Kingdom and Denmark*

“…The first Lisbon Treaty referendum vote in Ireland saw CSO actors dominate the campaign. Issues raised by the CSOs discussed above – a Commissioner for each state, Member State competency over abortion policy and workers' rights – formed the basis for the Irish government's negotiation of legally binding protocols presented to the Irish public before the second referendum on the Treaty (FitzGibbon, 2010). But can their actions be considered Eurosceptic or part of a discursive European dialogue?…”

“…Examining the first Irish Lisbon Treaty referendum campaign shows the extent of the 2 Nine EU-related referendums have been held in Ireland, including an accession referendum in 1973 and the most recent on the Fiscal Compact Treaty on 31 May 2012. potential to which civil society can influence the discourse on European integration in a Member State. The three most high-profile CSOs to campaign against the Lisbon Treaty were Libertas, Cóir and the People's Movement (FitzGibbon, 2010). Each represented different segments of Irish society with different issues, and each will be analyzed in turn in relation to the hypotheses.…”

“…What this article seeks to articulate is the need for recognition of the presence of organized Euroscepticism in civil society, in addition to Euroscepticism in national party systems and public opinion. The emergence of organized and sustained opposition from civil society to European integration, independent of the party system, can be seen in referendum campaigns on European Union (EU) issues in Denmark (Siune, 1993), France (Dufour, 2010), Ireland (FitzGibbon, 2010) and Norway (Pettersen et al ., 1996), but also in the national EU debate in the United Kingdom (Usherwood, 2002; Gray, 2003). Non‐party actors served an important function in the general EU discourse of these case studies.…”

Direct democracy and regional integration: Citizens' perceptions of treaty implications and the Irish reversal on Lisbon

“…Initial rejection of it by the Irish in 2008 represented a formidable obstacle to the Treaty's EU‐wide ratification and led to a diplomatic crisis for Ireland (Dinan 2009). Similar to the Nice Treaty reversal (Hayward 2003; O'Brennan 2003), a re‐run of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009 reversed the original decision and resulted in its ratification (Fitzgibbon 2010). This article seeks to identify the factors that shaped Irish citizens' voting behaviour in the referendums and to identify the factors that caused the Irish to change their mind.…”