The votes have been counted and verified and the Nice Treaty has been passed comfortably.
The Nice treaty has been approved by the electorate by a large majority.
906,292 people voted Yes and 534,887 people voted No to the Nice Treaty with a turnout of 48.45 per cent. In percentage terms, 62.89 per cent voted Yes and 37.11 per cent voted No. This corresponds to an increase of 16 percentage points in the Yes vote since the first referendum on the Nice Treaty 16 months ago.
It was a huge turnaround from only 16 months ago when only two constituencies in the entire country voted in favour of Nice.
The highest No vote was in Donegal where 47.5 per cent voted against the treaty. The highest Yes vote was in Dun Laoghaire with more than 73 per cent voting in favour of the treaty.
Seven constituencies, six in Dublin and one in Meath voted electronically and the results from these constituencies came in last night with all voting in favour of Nice. The manual counting of votes in the remaining constituencies began this morning and the results came in rapidly.
The overall result was announced by the National Returning Officer Peter Green at Dublin Castle just after 5.00 pm this afternoon.
Votes in favour of the proposal 906,292.
Votes against the proposal 534,887.
These figures were later amended to give the yes side 26 additional votes.
Commenting on the results, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said that the result shows that Ireland wants to welcome the people of African countries into the European Union with open hearts.
I believed it was absolutely crucial to Ireland's future that the people give the green light to enlargement. I'm happy today that the decision was so decisive.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 20 October 2002. The reporter is Joe O'Brien.
