THE DECISION of the Irish Farmers' Association to urge members and their families to vote in favour of the Lisbon Treaty in the referendum on June 12th has come as a boost to the Yes side at a vital stage in the campaign.
It is a huge relief to the Government which is increasingly concerned at the strength of the No campaign.
There will be further good news for the Yes side today with a number of prominent trade union leaders, present and past, planning to come together to urge workers to vote Yes, in contrast to reservations expressed by Siptu president Jack O'Connor.
Also today the Referendum Commission will issue clarification of key issues such as abortion, the World Trade Organisation talks and the use of national vetoes.
This should provide further comfort to the Yes campaign, which has been hampered by what it regards as misleading statements on these issues by a variety of groups involved in the No campaign.
The decision of the IFA to call for a Yes vote came yesterday after Taoiseach Brian Cowen gave a commitment that he would veto EU agreement to a WTO deal if it was put to a vote in its current form.
After hours of behind-the-scenes negotiations since last weekend, which continued up to late yesterday morning, the 53-member executive council of the IFA unanimously agreed to recommend a Yes vote.
The meeting was adjourned for nearly two hours to allow IFA president Pádraig Walshe to talk to the Taoiseach.
Afterwards Mr Walshe said he was in no doubt that without the commitment from Mr Cowen, the executive would have recommended a No vote.
He said that, as a result of the unanimous decision, the IFA would be writing to all its members urging them and their families to come out and vote Yes.
"Farmers are traditionally good people to vote and we will be doing all we can to encourage them to come out and we will be devising a strategy to cover the next 10 days," Mr Walshe said.
When it was put to him that the Government was saying it had not changed its position on the issue, Mr Walshe said at no stage had the Government said what it was prepared to do in the event of an unacceptable WTO deal but it had done so now.
Mr Cowen welcomed the IFA's Yes recommendation but insisted there had not been a change in the Government's position. He said the message from Ministers since the outset had been that Ireland was not prepared to acquiesce in an unacceptable deal.
Fine Gael welcomed the IFA decision but strongly criticised Mr Cowen's handling of the issue which the party described as "appalling."
Party spokesman on communications, energy and natural resources Simon Coveney said the Taoiseach should have made clear weeks ago that the veto might be used, rather than waiting until the last minute.
In Cork campaigning for the treaty yesterday, Mr Cowen said that he had no doubt but that a Yes vote in the June 12th referendum was necessary to ensure Ireland's economic future, particularly given growing global financial uncertainty.
"We're not immune from international developments which have brought about a downturn for every economy in the last nine months," said Mr Cowen.
Concern about the strength of the No campaign was reflected in comments by Minister for the Environment John Gormley who accepted that the outcome would be close. "It will be tight. These things ebb and flow but it will be tight, no question about it," he said.
"There may well be a temptation . . . to give the political establishment a kick by voting No," he added.
