Ireland to vote again on EU's Lisbon Treaty Oct 2

(DUBLIN) - Ireland will hold a second referendum on the European Union's key Lisbon reform treaty on October 2, Prime Minister Brian Cowen said Wednesday, as opinion polls show voters will back it this time.

Cowen said he had set the date after receiving assurances from his European colleagues on issues that concerned Irish voters, who threw the EU into disarray when they rejected the treaty in a referendum in June last year.

"I believe these concerns have been addressed now in the shape of the legal guarantees which have been agreed by the 27 heads of state," he told parliament.

"On that basis, I recommended to the government that we return to the people to seek their approval for Ireland to ratify the treaty.

"That referendum will take place on October 2."

The guarantees hammered out at an EU summit last month affirm that Ireland's military neutrality and taxation system, as well as its stance on social issues like abortion, will be untouched by the treaty.

Support for the Lisbon Treaty has been growing as Ireland's economic crisis has deepened, with the most recent polls showing 54 percent would now vote "yes", compared with 53.4 percent who opposed the text last year.

Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said adopting the treaty was in Ireland's best interests.

"The government believes that this treaty is good for Ireland and good for Europe," he told journalists. "Our task now is to bring our case before the people."

Martin launched a guide explaining the complex treaty to voters, part of a better-organised campaign the government has promised after facing accusations it was slow to engage head-on with opponents of the treaty last year.

He said he recognised that Irish voters had "genuinely-held concerns" about the treaty, but he argued: "We have benefited hugely from EU membership over the decades.

"That is not disputed, even by those who oppose the treaty. We have derived particular benefit from the creation of the European single market and from participation in the euro, which has been especially important in the recent global economic crisis."

The Lisbon Treaty is designed to facilitate decision-making in an EU which has expanded to encompass the former communist countries of eastern Europe.

The bloc has almost doubled in size since the current Nice Treaty came into force.

Despite the positive tone of opinion polls, the leader of the opposition Fine Gael party, Enda Kenny, whose party supports the treaty, warned that many voters were still wary of the complex document.

"I would not underestimate the strength of the feeling of confusion that is out there," he said.

"I am not in any way led by opinion polls at this stage which indicate this is just an exercise to be gone through."

A key figure in the anti-Lisbon campaign, multi-millionaire businessman Declan Ganley, said last month he would not fight again for a 'No' vote in a second referendum.

Ganley, whose Libertas organisation flopped in elections for the European Parliament, said he was bowing out of politics after he failed to win a seat.

Ireland was the only EU state constitutionally bound to put the treaty to a public vote. Almost all the EU members have endorsed the treaty through votes in their national parliaments.