On Thursday the Irish people will have the chance to vote in a referendum that asks whether or not to accept the Lisbon treaty. Most of the Irish papers appear to be urging readers to vote Yes. By contrast, London-based papers with Irish editions, doubtless influenced by anti-European Union domestic agendas, are backing a No vote.
Today's Irish Mail on Sunday, for example, came out strongly against with a leader saying "Lisbon won't do." (Two pages later columnist Mary Carr announced she was voting Yes "if only to spite Sinn Fein and its army of fellow cranks"). The Sunday Times was predictable too with a leader headlined Be positive, vote No.
But the Murdoch press may be split because the Irish News of the World, though it didn't comment itself, carried a leader page article with a large headline, "On yer bike.. and vote YES", with a secondary piece from the country's foreign affairs minister also calling for a Yes vote. We'll see how the dailies line up later this week.
Incidentally, none of the MoS and NoW material is carried on their websites. Surely that's a bit of an oversight.
