Ireland's rocky road to Lisbon

Ireland's EU Affairs Minister Dick Roche would like to see “over 60%” of Irish voters approving the Treaty of Lisbon in the country's referendum on 12 June. Speaking to European Voice on 10 April, Roche said a rejection of the treaty would send a very bad signal given the current economic situation. In October 2002, in the second referendum on the Nice treaty agreed in 2000, 60% of Irish voters said ‘Yes'.