Ireland to hold referendum on Europe's fiscal treaty "I am very confident that, when the importance and merits of this treaty are communicated to the Irish people, they will endorse it emphatically by voting Yes to continued economic stability and recovery," Mr Kenny told lawmakers in Dail Eireann, Ireland's parliament. The policy has twice caused major headaches for the EU as Irish voters temporarily blocked the union's two previous treaties with narrow "no" votes in 2001 and 2008. Ireland on both occasions staged second referendums in 2002 and 2009 that overcame anti-EU sentiment. This time EU leaders, forseeing the risk of an Irish referendum defeat, agreed to make the treaty legally binding once 12 of the eurozone's 17 members ratify it. That way, if Ireland is alone to reject it, the other eurozone countries can still adopt it for themselves. However, a treaty rejection would prevent Ireland from receiving finanial aid from the rest of the eurozone in the future. The accord limits bailout money from the new, permanent European Stability Mechanism (ESM) to countries that have ratified the agreement by next March. Ireland has already received a €67.5bn bailout from the eurozone's current bailout fund and the International Monetary Fund. But although the country's funding costs have fallen in recent months many economists expect that it may need further help, which would have to come from the ESM. A spokeswoman for Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council who has been overseeing the drafting of the fiscal compact, declined to comment on the referendum.