Time to reflect and move on
"The majority of Irish voted choose to reject the Treaty. That decision must be respected," Labour Leader Eamon Gilmore has said.
"We campaigned vigorously for a yes vote, because we believed the treaty was an important step forward in creating a progressive and democratic social Europe.
"The Irish vote must be seen as reflective not just of an Irish problem but a broader failure of the European Union to win the hearts and the minds of people of Europe.
"We must be given an opportunity to reflect on the outcome. It will take time to understand what the real concerns are and how they can be addressed. I do not pretend to have all the answers today; we do need a period of reflection."
You can see more of what Eamon told the Dáil in the accompanying video.
We would like to take this opportunity thank everyone who worked on the campaign from distributing leaflets, to putting up posters and canvassing, whatever your level of participation it is appreciated.
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Public Services and Lisbon - the facts not the codology
Ensuring Legal Certainty, Local Autonomy and Citizen's Rights
High quality public services, accessible to all, are at the heart of the European vision of a well-run society. If the EU can get public services right, it will offer a powerful example of what a Citizen's Europe can mean in practice for people.
It is the view of the Labour Party and our sister parties across Europe that public services must answer to the logic of the public interest, not of the free market. Public authorities, at national, regional or local level, must be free to organise public services in their own way for citizens. But we need a clear legal framework defining the special relationship between the provision of public services and Europe's internal market rules. Over the past seven years of negotiations Labour and our allies have succeeded in achieving this in the Lisbon Treaty.
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Lisbon - a Citizen's Treaty that will further democratise the EU - Gilmore
Speaking after the Labour Party's final press conference before the eve-of-vote moratorium in broadcasting coverage, the Labour Leader Eamon Gilmore said he accepted that the Lisbon Reform Treaty is a complex document that doesn't lend itself to simple explanation.
"However," he said, "there is now sufficient information available to the public to allow voters to make an informed choice on Thursday."
There are a number of very good reasons why working people should vote 'Yes' tomorrow.
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Proinsias De Rossa explains why he is voting Yes
In the video Proinsias De Rossa MEP explains why he is voting yes. He says: "The Lisbon Reform Treaty provides a legally binding Charter of Fundamental Rights which places new obligations on the European Union to resepct the rights of European citizens.
"It is important that people are not misled by believing that a negative vote means that the EU is going to sit down and renegotiate a better treaty for working people in Ireland or for those who need a social Europe.
"The reality is the Lisbon Treaty was negotiated at a time when the Social Democrats were in the majority in the EU. We had 11 out of 15 members States; now we have the situation where 17 of the member States are centre-right out of 27 so the balance is completely changed.
"It is far more likely we will lose things like the Charter of Fundamental Rights and other important advances if we vote no."
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