[declan]

Well i live here in Republic of Ireland ( its not Eire that was when we were part of commonwealth, Ireland left that years ago) I returned here with my work in 2003 i was amazed to find over 300hundred thosand people from all over the Uk now are resident here, Ireland gained alot from E.U membership since 1979 three years ago Ireland became a contributor to the E.U budget and is a strong supporter of the European project. The main reason for voting No was a number of factors, the Yes campaign were very slow off the mark, every home got a copy of the treaty and debates were held in every town and city in the country by both camps, the treaty made great bedtime reading as really no one could understand it as it was done in technical terms. Irelands population has risen in past six years from under 3 million to just over 4 million and we have needed everyone we could get as this economy has seen growth of over 10percent for over past ten years, the whole country has been transformed, most major U.S. compaines especially computers and software are based in Ireland due to a well trained and educated workforce, the U.S investment in Ireland last year was 87 billion, and we have low unemployment. The main reasons for voting NO was that we feel it will threaten our neutrality, and we cannot agree that we should lose our veto for five years at a time, some of the social changes also were hard such maybe the Euopean court could force abortion laws here and we might lose our very low company tax payment ( the lowest in Europe) if these things had been adressed then the Yes vote would have won, we are not as a people antieuropean we are all for Europe but we must stop and take stock now, we dont want to lose our culture or our influence and this treaty did not address these issues, we have been in the Euro since it started and its bolstered our economy and provided stability, we have gained so much and we have welcomed the hundreds of thosands of european workers from all over Europe who have moved here in past five years, without them our economy could not have coped. Many BRitish companies have moved here and i know many families who have made there home here, i believe that we will be made consessions our Prime MInister has no problems with allowing the other 26 countries including the Uk to ratify the treaty, Croatia joins the E.U in 16 months and we might have an enabling treaty to join with them in meantime our country can try and get the concessions it needs and their is a willingness to do it. I noted the Uk is not going to have a referendum on the treaty that is sad in many ways, but in Republic of Ireland we must have a referendum by law on all changes to our constitution, we remain strong Europeans and always will be, but maybe this treaty needed redrafting my regards to all in Accrington especially those i worked with at ASDA