My friends in Ireland will once again be going to the polls tomorrow to vote yea or nay on the Lisbon Treaty. This is the last shot according to Taoiseach Brian Cowen who states there won’t be a third referendum if the vote goes “No”. I would have to guess that Cowen wants a “Yes” vote this time around though:
In his last statement before Ireland goes to the polls, the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, said voting yes would “retain the confidence that Ireland is a positive and influential member of the union”.
Okay, but it would also be a win for him and his constituents which, by what I understand, he and they need rather badly at this point since I get the distinct impression that he’s not viewed in any favor by Irish folks in general.
So I would think this puts the Irish in difficult spot in that they now need to make a rather difficult decision. To vote “Yes” on the Lisbon Treaty this time around and possibly have a chance to recover/improve the rather bleak situation they’re currently in or to vote “No” and possibly force Cowen and his ilk out of office in favor of others (I admit that, not being Irish, I don’t know all the assets vs. liabilities of voting yea or nay on the Treaty entails).
Would that apply to Mary Harney as well? I hear they don’t like her much either.
But I still have to ask the question—have they got anything better over there to put in it’s place?
Not that my feelings or questions will have any effect on tomorrow’s outcome at all but for what it’s worth, I wish good luck and any Irish blessing I can find that the Irish folk I’m so fond of (for whatever reason that may be) make out for the better no matter how the vote may go.
Consider yourself lucky not to be involved in this mess.
The whole thing is extremely complex [deliberately so, I might add] and could have been avoided if Europe came up with an alternative to the treaty.
They had no fall-back position, so when Ireland voted ‘no’ last year, their only option was to run it again, and hope for a ‘yes’ this time around.
That is called democracy.
.-= Grandad´s last blog ..A spoiled vote =-.
Grandad – I have to admit that despite all the hullabaloo that my country is going through, I’d much rather deal with what’s going on here than what you folks are putting up with. Still, the point may very well be moot. I have this god awful feeling that Obama is going to end up doing a lot more crisis management (meaning dealing with crisis’ that has been long in the making) than changing before he leaves office. Not too sure that the good ol’ USA is going to make it.
I guess we’re all in the same boat? Perhaps we need to trade it in for a submarine. At least that’s built to go under.