Heard the one about Irish voters and the European Union? Brussels Euro-types think they know how the joke ends, and are chortling already. Last June Ireland held a referendum on the Lisbon treaty, and the voters returned a decisive No. The main causes, say the Euro-types, were Irish cockiness in an economic boom, ingratitude after decades of eu subsidies, a hopeless Yes campaign and, most important, ignorance of the treaty, made worse by the No campaign's lies. Research shows one in three voters wrongly believing that the treaty would bring in conscription to a European army and end Irish control over abortion.
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