Counting as early returns show Irish `yes' to EU treaty

(3 Oct 2009) 1. Pan right of Dublin count centre 2. Mid of election officials unlocking ballot boxes 3. Close up of election official unlocking ballot box 4. Mid of ballot box being emptied onto table 5. Various of votes being counted 6. Various of police and security officials guarding count process 7. Close up of "Count Location" sign 8. Mid of security at the count centre 9. Ballot box being emptied onto table 10. Votes being counted 11. Ballot papers with 'Yes' vote being stacked up 12. Pan right of votes being counted 13. Party worker tallying results 14. Tally paper showing more 'Yes' votes than 'No' votes 15. Wide of count centre STORYLINE Election officials began counting votes on Saturday in the Irish referendum on the European Union Lisbon Treaty. Ballot boxes were brought from polling stations in Dublin and emptied onto tables in a special count centre for the city. Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said the "Yes" vote was running about 60 percent nationwide for the EU Lisbon Treaty. Official results were expected to come later on Saturday. Ireland's June 2008 rejection of the Treaty threatened to derail the EU's painstakingly negotiated plans to modernise its institutions, but the Irish agreed to stage a second vote. Dublin officials said several districts of the Irish capital that rejected the Lisbon Treaty last time are registering "yes" majorities from Friday's referendum, while the pro-treaty vote is even higher in other parts of Ireland. Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins - one of the few elected Irish politicians to campaign against the treaty - said the early returns made his side's defeat inevitable. Higgins blamed what he called "one of the most unequal and unbalanced campaigns in our history," including pro-treaty interventions from business heavyweights Ryanair and Intel. The treaty requires unanimous ratification across the 27-nation bloc, and the Irish are the only ones requiring its approval by popular vote. The treaty - agreed in the Portuguese capital in 2007 - spells out how the EU would reshape its decision-making, size and image in line with its rapid expansion eastward this decade. It proposes to increase the ability of leaders to make decisions with majority rather than unanimous votes, but also gives more influence in policy-shaping to national legislatures and the European Parliament. All the other EU nations already have passed the treaty through their national parliaments. Only the heads of state of Poland and the Czech Republic have yet to withhold their assent, citing Ireland's uncertain approval. The Irish agreed to vote again after EU leaders offered key assurances designed to undermine the anti-treaty arguments. The EU dropped its plans to prune the size of the European Commission, a move that would have cost Ireland its right to hold a seat continuously on the EU's key executive body. Brussels also reiterated, in formal declarations appended to the treaty, that it would have no bearing on Ireland's taxes, military neutrality or moral codes. A second Irish rebuff would have killed the treaty and forced EU chiefs into uncharted diplomatic waters. Pressure would have built to chart a way forward that would not be subject to another Irish veto - the long-threatened "two-speed Europe" in which a core of like-minded nations moved ahead of nay-sayers like Ireland. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/fb0e4d2a461409f7967a85401738bd33 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork