In a TNS poll for the Irish Times, 46% of people said they would vote 'yes', a drop of eight points since the last survey in May. 29% of Irish said they would vote 'no', an increase of one point. The number of people in the 'don't know' category increased by seven points to 25%, the Irish Times writes.
Last July, when the Irish government confirmed a 2 October date for the second Lisbon Treaty referendum (EurActiv 09/07/09), the 'yes' camp was on the up. Optimism in EU circles led the Swedish EU Presidency to fix dates for discussing top jobs to be instituted under the new reform treaty (EurActiv 02/09/09).
However, this optimism might prove to be misplaced. If the trend away from the 'yes' camp continues for the next four weeks, the outcome of the referendum will be very tight and could quite easily slip into another 'no', the Irish Times writes in a commentary.
The daily advises all the pro-Treaty political parties "to rise to the challenge" and mobilise their supporters, as well as to spend significant funds on the campaign.
The Irish Independent reported that Prime Minister Brian Cowen (Fianna Fáil), Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore and Green party leader John Gormley met yesterday to discuss the co-ordination of their campaigns. The daily quotes former Irish European Parliament president Pat Cox, who said the results of the poll show that "a lot of work" still remains to be done if the 'yes' vote is to be successful.
