POLL REACTION:THE LATEST Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll, showing a two to one lead among committed voters for the Yes side in the Lisbon Treaty referendum, was welcomed by Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin at the weekend.
However, he warned against complacency saying that Fianna Fáil was taking nothing for granted and would continue to bring a positive message into every community in the country right up to polling day on June 12th. "It is clear that there is momentum behind the Yes message, as the public begin to focus on the detail of a treaty which is about making a Union which has worked so well for Ireland work even better.
"It is very heartening for us to see the very strong reaction to the priority which our new leader and Taoiseach Brian Cowen has given to the treaty," the Minister said.
The Irish Alliance for Europe also welcomed the poll result but the organisation's director, Brendan Kiely, said there was still a lot of work to be done to get the message across and ensure the highest possible turnout.
"One of our main tasks in this campaign is to debunk the myths being propagated by the No side. Today's results clearly show the lies are having an impact with 25 per cent of those voting No doing so because of concerns linked to our neutrality and 12 per cent of those voting No doing so because of fears regarding our corporation tax," Mr Kiely said.
"Ireland's neutrality and corporation tax will be unaffected by the Lisbon Reform Treaty, this has been confirmed not just by us but by the independent Referendum Commission. The No side in this campaign need to stop misleading the electorate and start engaging in debate based on the facts of this treaty," he said.
However, one of the leading No campaigners, Libertas chairman Declan Ganley, said the poll showed that there was a huge danger of the Irish people making an uninformed choice in the referendum.
"I understand and share the desire of Irish people to say Yes to Europe - for years I have done so myself. However, this referendum is not about EU membership, it is about the contents of the Lisbon Treaty. People have a responsibility to inform themselves of the treaty's contents," he said.
"I simply do not believe that even a simple majority of those who are planning to vote Yes have read the treaty, or fully understand it. In those circumstances, voting Yes is irresponsible," Mr Ganley said. He said there were some encouraging aspects to the poll for the No campaign. "Parties supporting this treaty received 85 per cent support in the TNS mrbi poll yesterday, but they cannot persuade half of that number to support the treaty," he added.
The Labour Party spokesman on European Affairs, Joe Costello, said the poll provided grounds for cautious optimism among those who favoured the treaty but he also warned against complacency among those campaigning for a Yes vote. "There is still a huge body of undecided voters, amounting to almost 50 per cent of the electorate, largely, I believe, because they have not yet been reached by either side."