Gilmore: Ireland needs deal on bank debt

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said the country now needs a deal on its bank debt.

He made the statement as it looks like Ireland is on course to back the European Fiscal Treaty with a vote of around 60% after the first official results from constituencies were announced.

Mr Gilmore said: “I want to welcome what appears now to be clearly the result of this referendum that the people of Ireland have voted in favour of the stability treaty.

“I think this decision taken by the Irish people is a necessary step on the road to recovery but we now have to build on it.

“This was not just an exercise where those of us asking people to vote Yes - it was also an occasion where we listened to what people where saying.”

The Tánaiste added: “We do need to have a deal in relation to our bank debt. We do need to see progress upon it.”

The first constituencies to go against the treaty were Donegal South West with a No vote of 55% and Dublin South-West with 51%.

The neighbouring area of Dublin Mid-West narrowly accepted the treaty with a vote of just 50.01%.

Officials verifying the figures from the 43 constituencies confirmed that there were only five votes between the Yes and No camps in the region with 33,175 valid votes out of an electorate of 64,445.

Elsewhere, Donegal North-East followed the pattern of the Lisbon treaty referendum in 2009 and rejected the latest European pact.