Votes in the Nice Treaty referendum, which unusually is being held on a Saturday, will be counted next day and the final result should be available by about 5 p.m. on October 20th, according to the Department of the Environment and Local Government.
Electronic voting machines are being provided in seven constituencies and it is hoped to have those results late on Saturday, October 19th, or in the early hours of Sunday morning. The constituencies are: Dún Laoghaire, Meath, and Dublin North, West, Mid-West, South-West and South.
Meanwhile, the anti-Nice group, Equal in Europe, has criticised as "inappropriate" the selection of illustrations used in The EU and How it Works, the latest booklet from the Referendum Commission, which provides information for the referendum.
"What information purpose is served by the portrayal of the EU as a woman cradling the member- states in her arms? Why are the European treaties portrayed with what appear to be angelic wings attached to them?"
According to Equal in Europe: "Cartoons and illustrations are widely used in advertising and in promotional leaflets to create or reinforce an attitude, by relying on the ways in which consumers associate attitudes and emotions with given images."
Nice was on the agenda at an all-day meeting of the Sinn Féin leadership in Dundalk yesterday. Predicting a second defeat for the treaty, Mr Gerry Adams MP said: "The key issues we will be campaigning on are democracy, neutrality and the attempt to create a two-tier EU superstate."
The employers' group IBEC has been accused of a "myopic" approach in supporting the treaty. According to Mr Anthony Coughlan, enhanced co-operation would allow other member-states to harmonise company tax rates, leading to pressure on Ireland to do the same.
"Ratifying Nice is thus likely to face us in time with the unpleasant dilemma of either undermining a fundamental basis of Ireland's economic success or being relegated to second-class EU membership status," Mr Coughlan said.