(2 Oct 2009) SHOTLIST
1. Exterior of polling station
2. Close up of sign reading: "Polling Place"
3. Man and woman arriving at polling station
4. Various of interiors of polling station with people voting
5. Mid of election officials
6. Various of voting
7. Close up of ballot box, tilt down to Lisbon Treaty Referendum sticker
8. Man casting his vote
9. Close up of ballot box and man's hand casting his vote
10. Mid of election official
11. Pan across ballot paper
12. Close up of "yes" and "no" boxes
13. Man voting
14. Close up of sign with polling station details
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Vox pop, Name not given, voter:
"I voted, yes."
(Q: Why?)
"Because I think it's the best for the country and I think we have to look to the bigger picture not just to have a protest vote against the government, even though I am as angry as everybody else is with their performance, I think we have to look at the bigger picture."
16. Wide of road leading to polling station
STORYLINE
The future direction of the European Union was hanging in the balance on Friday as Ireland's voters decided whether to ratify the EU Lisbon Treaty the second time around.
Polls opened at 7 am (0600GMT) in a referendum on the 2006 treaty, a painstakingly negotiated blueprint for reforming how the 27-nation bloc makes decisions and presents itself to the wider world.
Results come on Saturday.
Ireland is the only EU member requiring the treaty to win majority approval from voters.
The Irish rejected it last year, but are voting again after EU leaders reaffirmed their military neutrality, control over tax policies and right to keep abortion outlawed in this predominantly Catholic country.
The treaty can't become EU law unless Ireland approves.
In eve-of-poll declarations, Prime Minister Brian Cowen and opposition leaders alike said their party workers would lobby the public all day to vote yes.
They said a second "no" would do the most damage to Ireland itself, because the country is in a deep recession and requires European Central Bank support to revive its banks and combat a runaway deficit.
The left-of-centre Labor Party urged its supporters to back the treaty, even though rejection would likely topple its opponents in Cowen's 17-month-old government.
Labor leader Eamon Gilmore said Ireland needed to demonstrate its pro-EU credentials now, and could force Cowen from power later.
Gilmore cautioned voters not to stay at home as opinion polls suggested a strong victory for the pro-treaty side.
He noted that 53.4 percent of voters said "no" in June 2008, but on just a 53 percent turnout, after polls had indicated the treaty's approval.
Ireland's major newspapers and broadcasters said they planned no exit polling, leaving the outcome unclear until Saturday.
The Lisbon Treaty proposes to make it easier for European summits to reach policy decisions by majority rather than unanimous votes; create new posts of president and foreign minister for promoting EU policies on the world stage; and give both national legislatures and the European Parliament more say in shaping and approving policies.
Treaty opponents emphasise their view that the EU is undemocratic and seeking greater powers to impose unpopular policies on Ireland, including higher taxes, lower wages, legalised abortion and euthanasia, and increased immigration.
A government-appointed commission tasked with explaining the treaty insists all these claims are baseless.
One major difference between the 2008 campaign and the current one is the fate of Ireland's member of the European Commission, the
bloc's executive branch.
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