Much has been written about the failure nationally to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. However, there are constituencies where the majority voted ‘Yes’ to Lisbon. Clare, for example, stands out in contrast as the only constituency outside of the handful of Leinster constituencies to return a yes vote.

So what happened in Clare?

It could be explained by the track record of the Clare electorate in doing something different. Clare has elected O’Connell, De Valera and the Dr Moosajee Bhamjee. However, those decisions reflected a national mood. In the main, the Clare electorate returns two FF and One FG TD with the fourth seat fluttering on the National mood. Clare elected a Labour TD on the Spring tide of 1992 (Dr Bhamjee). The General election of 2002 saw Clare, like many other constituencies, return an independent TD. The electorate of Clare followed the national trend in 2007, which was to retreat to the main big parties.
In 2001 Clare followed the national trend and rejected the first Nice treaty. The Clare electorate is clearly not indifferent to the national mood. This mood has been described as ‘cranky’, so keeping the Lisbon Treaty result in mind .. are Clare people less cranky than the rest of Ireland? The economic downturn, rising fuel and energy costs, job losses in Clare announced in the weeks running up to polling day Rising interest rates and falling house values are issues that affect Clare, like other counties, and the Clare electorate had more reason than others to give the Government a kick.

In August of last year speakers at large protests spat venom on the Government mishandling of the Shannon Heathrow issue. “We will give the Government their answer when they ask us to vote for their Lisbon Treaty”, was the cry to the crowd and the crowd cheered in response.

The Delay in commencing the 40 million euro upgrade at Ennis General Hospital and the uncertainty hanging over the Accident and Emergency at the hospital should have finished the yes vote in Clare. Well known hospital campaigners in Clare called for the people of Clare to protest inaction on the hospital by voting No. Hospital campaigners also alleged that passing Lisbon would allow Europe to interfere with National Health Policy to promote privatisation. There were motions at county council level blaming Europe for having to put water charge on schools. Oddly enough coming from FF Cllrs, who themselves by their own political cowardice are responsible for the situation by not introducing domestic charging of water. The list of disgruntling factors is long but also includes lack of sewerage treatment in the main towns including Ennis and some of the poorest road infrastructure. Combine this with the fact that a boil notice has been in operation for the last three years for Ennis’s water supply. A supply serving thirty thousand people. Clare, more than any constituency, had ample reason to vote No.

1400 more people voted yes in Clare, than voted No. The factors that influenced are quite complicated but I certainly don’t feel it was a random act, with so many constituencies voting No in the West. I don’t believe that the law of averages requires a constituency to randomly vote Yes. There was no organised tally at the Count in Clare, therefore it is impossible to reach any definitive conclusions as to where the majority of the yes votes came from. Retrospective speculation is not an exact science but, nationally, Lisbon was lost by the bulk of the local and in some cases national political system hedging its bets with an electorate that appeared to be splitting down the middle. Politics has reduced to a practice where politicians of all hues and types try to second guess what the mood or wish of the majority is and act accordingly. In a situation where the electorate is split down the middle, the safest bet politically is not to be identified with one side or the other. To adopt a position means entertaining the chance of isolating half of the electorate that the politician will have to go to for the vote that really matters. The vote to re-elect them. Its best to stay low, smile and wave and agree with the position of the person in front of you or give the impression you agree. This was brought home to me in a north west constituency, where I saw a well known FF junior minister winking and smiling when asked at a public meeting on Lisbon, “Ah xxxxx you don’t really support this auld treaty, do you?”. This is despite the fact that the minister was sitting on a podium speaking in support of the treaty.

The four Oireachtas Members, certainly at a public level, did not give any impression other than complete support for the Treaty. The Oireachtas members did not counter the No Vote call from the Hospital Campaigners. This was perhaps something that aided the Yes vote. The No Vote Call from the Hospital Campaigners was countered by myself, as I have been a long term member of the committee fighting for services to be retained and enhanced at Ennis General Hospital. It is worth noting that in each of the Dublin constituencies that returned a Yes vote there is a sitting Green TD. In Clare the is a strong Green party with a Councillor who is their delegate to the Forum on Europe and who is not afraid to take very Pro Europe positions . This may have been a factor in the yes vote in Clare.

Other than speculation it is difficult to pin down the exact reasons. There are those that claim that Clare people understand the need to remain deeply connected to a Europe because of an international airport in the constituency that people do not want to undermine. A parish priest in Cratlow, an area of Clare on the border with Limerick denounced the treaty from the pulpit, citing Europe’s promotion of gay rights. This made front page news, lead story in a Clare newspaper , resulting in a number of people switched their voting intention from No to Yes. These may have been influencing factor’s but in the main the yes vote in Clare, because of the absence of an accurate tally will remain a mystery. However, whatever the woes or claimed woes which may befall Ireland and the Taoiseach, because of the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, the people of Clare can not be blamed.