IRELAND'S FUTURE progress will be decided by the result of the Lisbon Treaty referendum, Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said following a weekend of intensive campaigning.
During tours to Kerry, Limerick and Dublin, Mr Cowen, who will join Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour's Eamon Gilmore today in a call for a Yes vote, repeatedly urged people to back the Yes campaign.
Asked if he was presenting Fianna Fáil supporters with a "back him or sack him" decision, Mr Cowen said: "Hopefully, [ it's] not a back me or sack me moment. I think it is a question of us backing the country. It is beyond party politics."
Despite accusations from No campaigners that voters are being threatened, Mr Cowen declined to back away from warnings that a rejection would result in Ireland losing influence.
In a phrase he used repeatedly yesterday during a 25-minute speech, the Taoiseach said a rejection of the treaty would take Ireland "down a new and more uncertain route".
He told members of Ógra Fianna Fáil at a youth rally in Dublin that theirs was "the most blessed generation in Irish history". He asked that people reflect on the fact that "the progress Ireland has made would not have been possible without us being positive members of the European Union".
He also said that for the generation that would shape Ireland in the decades ahead, there was "unlikely to be another vote as important as this one".
The mood in the Yes camp has lightened following a Sunday Business Post poll which showed it slightly ahead - though some of that polling was carried out last Friday week. Fianna Fáil party strategists believe that voters will accept the treaty by a margin of up to 10 points in a near 60 per cent turnout.
TDs have been appointed as directors of elections in each constituency and their performance is being monitored by Fianna Fáil headquarters.
In a bid to encourage voters to come out, Mr Cowen said Thursday's referendum would settle the European Union's internal rules for "perhaps one, two, three decades ahead".
Meanwhile, the Government, in a move that will be seen as a signal to trade unions, will today back EU plans to improve the rights of agency workers, both Irish and foreign.
Mr Cowen will join Mr Kenny and Mr Gilmore for a press conference today in a bid to reinforce the message that all of the major parties back the Lisbon Treaty.
Questioned yesterday about polling figures that indicate that a majority of Labour supporters are against the treaty, the Labour leader insisted he would not back away from calling for a Yes vote.
"Leadership is about leading from the front. We believe that this treaty is good for Ireland, good for working people. It isn't the first time that we have found ourselves in a referendum campaign where some of our own support base are reluctant about what we are saying.
"But there are times when you have to give people honest leadership. Honesty in politics is not just about keeping your hand out of the till. It is also telling the truth. And we are telling the truth," said Mr Gilmore.
Islanders on Arranmore and Tory, off the Donegal coast, will be the first to cast their votes in the referendum today. People living off the Mayo and Galway coasts will vote on Wednesday, while those on the Cork islands will vote with the rest of the State on June 12th.
Libertas founder Declan Ganley dismissed the view that Yes support has strengthened since Friday's Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll, which showed the No camp in the lead. "There has been no perceptible shift in the public mood over the past few days," he said.
