Time to consider when and how we hold referendums

Although voter turnout in the fiscal treaty referendum was a lowly 50 per cent, the positive outcome has provided much-needed relief for the government and the EU.

A Yes vote was never going to solve Ireland's crushing debt problems but, unlike the opposite result, it has at least made matters no worse. Uncoincidentally, Irish bond yields fell last week. The vote saved Ireland from being the only eurozone state to reject agreed fiscal ...