Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

The front-page headline in yesterday's Irish Examiner ran "Foreign worker numbers will be controlled after Nice says Ahern". How is one supposed to interpret this? Well, if we add the date October 19 to the picture things begin to swim into view.

On that day, the Irish electorate will be given a second opportunity to have its say about the future shape of Europe when the Treaty of Nice, which determines the timetable for European Union enlargement, is put to a referendum. Much to the horror of the country's elites and Brussels bureaucrats, Irish voters rejected the treaty last June and it looked for a while as if the grand European plan was heading off the rails. But the EU can be resolute when it comes to getting what it wants so the Irish are being bidden once more to brave the elements and do "the right thing".

Speaking Sunday at the launch of the governing Fianna Fᩬ party's campaign for a Yes vote, the Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Bertie Ahern, delivered one of those statements that makes even George W. Bush appear coherent: "Every walk of life has its pundits. But our country's future is not a game of chance."

He then focussed on immigration, a sure sign of how desperate he is to get the result he needs. Tough talk on (Eastern European) labour mobility is cheap but it just might convince scared voters to opt for a "Yes" instead of a "No". Then again, it might not, because the mood in Ireland these days is anything but happy. As Brian Lavery points out in The New York Times (registration required), a succession of scandals has tainted Ahern's government to the point where voters may use the referendum to vent their dissatisfaction.

Next week, Rainy Day will look at the Irish referendum and try to puzzle out how one of the main beneficiaries of European infrastructural aid could contemplate biting the hand that has fed it so well and often for 30 years.