The Lisbon Treaty Referendum 2008

Bibliographic Data

ID6074953
AuthorsStephen Quinlan (0000-0002-3197-4663, University College Dublin, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume24
Issue1
Pages107-121
Publication date2009-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueIrish Political Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0790-7184 • E-ISSN: 1743-9078
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07907180802674381
OpenAlexW1999125344
LanguageEN
Citations received25
References cited1

On Friday, 13 June 2008, the Irish electorate for the second time in seven years rejected a European Treaty when they voted against the Lisbon Treaty. The rejection was in spite of sizeable support among Irish people for EU membership. This raises the question 'why would a country so supportive of EU membership reject a European Treaty?' This paper provides a detailed review of the 2008 Lisbon referendum campaign. It begins by outlining the political context to the referendum. Following on from this, it examines the main players on both sides of the debate and outlines the key issues and events of the campaign. The paper then provides an assessment of the diversity of factors that lay behind voters' decision to reject the Treaty before concluding with an analysis of the potential responses of the government and the EU. Acknowledgements The author wishes to thank Richard Sinnott and Justin Leinaweaver for their comments and advice. As ever all errors are his own. Notes 1. Following the Crotty v. An Taoiseach ruling in the Supreme Court in 1987, international treaties that may conflict with the Irish Constitution must be put to a referendum of the people. See Crotty v. An Taoiseach (1987), available at http:bailii.org/ie/cases/IESC/1987/4.html. 2. Youth Defence was an anti‐abortion group that was prominent in previous campaigns concerning abortion (MacDonald, Citation2008). 3. The laws relating to referendums are contained in Articles 27, 46 and 47 of Bunreacht na hÉireann as well as the Referendum Act 1998 and Referendum Act 2001. The functions of the Referendum Commission are stipulated under The Referendum Act 1998 and the Referendum Act 2001. 4. The opinion polls being analysed were the monthly tracking polls conducted by Red C for The Sunday Business Post and TNS/mrbi for The Irish Times during the period January Citation2008 to June 2008. 5. The question in relation to party support in the Millward Brown/IMS post‐referendum research asked respondents which party they felt close to, not which party they would vote for. 6. The TNS/mbri poll was published in The Irish Times on Monday, 17 November Citation2008

Brexit · Constitution · Economics · European union · Irish · Political science · Politics · Referendum · Sociology · Treaty · European and International Law Studies · European Union Policy and Governance · History · Law

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub