Donegal got no Lisbon opt-out

In the Republic of Ireland's second EU referendum on Lisbon, both of the Donegal constituencies voted to reject the Treaty whilst the remainder of the Republic voted in favour of accepting it.

By The Newsroom

Published 26th Jul 2016, 23:20 BST

Updated 27th Jul 2016, 00:24 BST

On foot of this result, Co Donegal wasn’t designated a Lisbon-free zone.

It wasn’t awarded some form of special status allowing the county to be treated separately because the will of the electorate in that part of the Republic differed from how the majority voted across the country.

The vote was a Republic of Ireland ballot and the outcome was a Republic of Ireland result. Similarly the Brexit referendum wasn’t held on a regional or constituency basis, because no region or constituency is by itself a member of the EU.

Opportunistic nationalists are now cherry-picking the democratic will of the people of the United Kingdom by attempting to re-write the basis and outcome of the recent referendum. They are wasting their time. To quote the Prime Minister: “Brexit means Brexit”.

Trevor Clarke, Councillor DUP, Coleraine