Irish voters will be called to vote on the European Union's Lisbon Treaty on October 2, news agencies reported on July 9. Ireland is the only EU member state to hold a referendum on the treaty and its rejection in June 2008 cast a shadow of doubt over its future.

The treaty was drafted to upgrade the bloc's institutions and streamline decision-making given its expansion by 12 member states since 2004, but opponents in Ireland had claimed the treaty would spur EU encroachment into areas like tax and family law.

Since then, Dublin has secured a number of concessions and Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen told parliament that he was confident the treaty would be approved by Irish voters this time around, the BBC reported. "I believe these concerns have been addressed now in the shape of the legal guarantees," the BBC quoted Cowen as saying.

The Associated Press quoted foreign minister Micheal Martin as saying that "the [Irish] government believes that this treaty is good for Ireland and good for Europe. Our task now is to bring our case before the people."

An opinion poll in June, carried out at the request of state broadcaster RTE, had 54 per cent of the respondents in favour of the treaty and 28 per cent against it, Bloomberg reported.

The new treaty would create the EU presidency post with a five-year term, expand the areas in which policy decisions can be made by majority rather than unanimous vote and would give wider powers to the European Parliament.

The provision to limit the size of the European Commission by introducing a rotation principle, however, has been scrapped, so all member states will retain their commissioner seats.