LABOUR:ON THE streets of inner north Dublin, local Labour TD Joe Costello rallied his troops for a blitz on the Lisbon Treaty.
"Keep it simple," Joe told his gathering of eight canvassers and local council candidate Claire O'Regan, as a French journalist looked on.
"It's good for Ireland, it's good for Europe," reiterated Joe. "If any questions come up, give me a call and I'll deal with them. You've all read the literature, right?"
There's some murmuring and foot-shuffling from the troops.
"I've read it but I don't understand it," mutters one of the canvassers, Gerry O'Meara.
In the gritty northside flats around Seán MacDermott Street, the incomprehension is mutual.
"What's this about Joe?" asked a heavily tattooed resident, Paul Black. "It's about extra rights for working people," said Costello.
"It's not like the other one, Maastricht, then?"
"It's building on the other one," explained Costello. After a minute or so, Mr Black tells Joe that he'll vote Yes. Then, having Mr Costello's ear, he moves on to another, somewhat related, subject. "What's the story with the bleeding English with the euro currency? Why are they not in the euro [zone]?"
England and its retention of the pound figure in several debates.
"I'm voting No with a capital N," an emphatic Liam Byrne tells the TD. "Look at the euro, Joe. What's being in the euro done for us? I would have encouraged Britain to join the euro but they've done very well out of not joining the euro."
Costello takes him on. "We can't all be Shinners, Liam."
"I am not a Shinner."
"I know, but we can't be Ourselves Alone," says Joe. "Our people had to go abroad to get jobs until we joined Europe. Europe provided us with jobs. Can you remember what it was like in the old days?"
A teenager buzzes the canvassers on a noisy scooter, passing within inches at top speed. When the conversation resumes, Mr Byrne is not convinced.
This line of reasoning is problematic, observes French journalist Eric Dior, who is writing about the heated campaign here for the news weekly Marianne. "He felt very offended to be told that everything good that has happened here is because of Europe," said Mr Dior. "It is offensive to Ireland's national pride to say that this is all because of Europe."
Most of Mr Costello's constituents tell him they'll vote Yes. But they seem to be doing it because they like the local politician, not because of any conviction - or knowledge - about the issues. "I'll be voting Yes. Joe got me into this flat," says Audrey Fitzgerald.
David Kinlan (19) debates the Costello team at his doorstep. "It's giving away our Constitution," says Mr Kinlan. "It's got nothing to do with our Constitution," argues a Costello canvasser, Gerry O'Callaghan. "It does," says Mr Kinlan. "That's why France and the Dutch voted No."
"It affects me, it affects her," he says, gesturing to his mother, "it affects everybody in the country".
"I don't know how I'll vote yet, though."