Pat the Cope addresses the Institute of European Affairs, October 6th 2009.

And it was a great achievement for all the proponents of a Yes vote.


In fact, one need only look to the reaction on ISEQ, the Irish stock exchange, which rose dramatically on the back of a YES vote. This was the positive reaction of international investors to this decision.


We should really ask the question how did this come about ?


The reality is that the defeat of the Lisbon Treaty last year left the Irish Government in a very difficult position.


But the Government started a process whereby it sought to address the concerns as expressed by the Irish people in structured, co-ordinated and determined manner.


It commissioned a study which was carried out by the marketing company Millward Browne into Irish attitudes to the EU and it also sought to elucidate the reasons behind voting intentions in the Lisbon Treaty referendum of June 2008.

This was followed by the setting up of the all party Oireachtas committee that sought to map out Ireland‘s future relationship with the European Union. There were 45 different oral presentations made to this committee from a variety of different social, economic and political groupings and in excess of 100 different written submissions were made to this committee.

This was followed by a decision of EU leaders last December which stated that in the event of the Lisbon Treaty being ratified that all EU member states would retain the right to appoint one member to the European Commission into the future.

Then the Irish Government started a series of negotiations with the other 26 EU Governments about the issue of the legal guarantees for Ireland.

These discussions took place in a spirit of friendship, co-operation and determination.

By June this year, the legal guarantees covering the issue of taxation, neutrality and socio ethical issues were agreed.

Of course, not only are these legal guarantees and the Lisbon Treaty now being deposited in Rome - but they are also being deposited at the United Nations under article 102 of the UN Charter.

This was the same procedure used to ratify the Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998. This procedure was good enough for Sinn Fein then but not good enough for Sinn Fein now.

So why did the referendum pass ?

It passed because of a series of reasons including the following:-

Ireland retains our Commissioner.

We have secured binding guarantees that are protected under international law.

Civic groups such as the Ireland for Europe organisations and ’ We Belong ’ lowered the political temperature.

There was greater co-operation between the political parties on the yes campaign.

Farm organisations were unequivocal in their support.

And, of course the economic backdrop, whereby there was a realisation that Ireland will come out of economic recession quicker with the support of the EU as opposed to taking an isolationist approach.

The decision last weekend has now defined Ireland‘s future and strategic relationship in Europe for many years to come.

This was a resounding decision which stated to our partners in Europe, to the people of Europe and to prospective investors around the world that Ireland is staying at the very heart of the EU project.

A victory of 619,000 votes, as Brian Cowen said is a victory for the people and the people alone.