(BRUSSELS) - As EU leaders struggled Friday to save their embattled Lisbon Treaty, a survey showed that most Irish people who voted against it were young and thought it could be easily renegotiated.

"The young people who participated, women and those not working were significant supporters of the 'no' vote," said the poll, conducted for the EU a day after more than 53 percent of Irish voters rejected the reform package.

It also found that three in four people -- 76 percent -- who voted against "supported the view that the result would put Ireland in a strong position to renegotiate the treaty."

Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin lamented Thursday that so many young people had been against the project, meant to help EU function better as it grows, and expressed concern that it could be a widespread phenomenon.

"What that may indicate is that we have a lost generation in terms of engagement with Europe and that is something that concerns me. This seems to be the case not just in Ireland but across Europe," he said.

The Irish 'no' has plunged the EU into a new period of turmoil, around a year after it surfaced from political limbo following the Dutch and French rejection of the draft constitution.

One in five people -- 22 percent -- said they rejected the treaty because they could not understand it, while half those who chose not to vote did so because they could not grasp the issues.

Thirty-two percent of people who voted 'yes' felt it was in Ireland's best interest, while 19 percent of the 2,000 people questioned from June 13-15 said it was because of the fact that Dublin benefits from the EU.

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