Support for Lisbon increases to 54% in poll

SUPPORT for the Lisbon treaty has further increased, with all signs being that the Government will ratify the document in a second referendum later this year despite its own unpopularity.

The first referendum last June saw the public throwing the EU into disarray when rejecting the treaty by 53.4% to 46.6%.

But, in recent months, there has been a massive swing in favour of the treaty, with the economic crisis seemingly persuading many voters that Ireland needs to maintain its relationship with Europe.

A new TNS MRBI/Irish Times opinion poll shows 54% of the public now support the treaty, up 2% since the previous poll two weeks ago. Just 28% of people say they would vote no, a drop of 1%. The remaining 18% said they did not know yet which way they would vote.

When the "don’t knows" or undecided voters are excluded, the poll shows the yes side on 66% compared to 34% for the no side.

The poll saw respondents asked how they would vote in the light of the commitment to allow Ireland to retain an EU commissioner along with legal guarantees on other concerns about neutrality, abortion and taxation.

The Government is expected to finalise those guarantees with their EU partners at a summit in Brussels later this month, which would pave the way for a second referendum in the autumn.

"If we get those [guarantees], and if they are what are required, then of course that enables us to go to the people with a new package based on that detailed work being conducted and a decision of the European Council being made at the June meeting," Taoiseach Brian Cowen told the Dáil recently.

The new poll showed Fianna Fáil voters to be the most enthusiastic supporters of the treaty, with 66% in favour and 20% against.

Some 62% of Fine Gael voters support the treaty compared with 24% against, while 59% of Labour voters are in favour with 27% against.

Among Green Party voters, 61% are in favour and 25% are against.

Sinn Féin, the only Dáil party to oppose the treaty, remains firmly in the no camp, with 57% of party voters against Lisbon and just 24% in favour.

The poll also asked voters if, in the light of the current economic crisis, they thought it was better to be part of the EU.

It showed 81% – or four in every five voters – replied yes, while 10% said no and the remaining 9% had no opinion.

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