In a radio debate on the treaty, Jobs Minister Richard Bruton was pressed on whether Ireland had a plan B to deal with a no vote given Government assertions a rejection would lock the country out of a second emergency EU bailout.

Mr Bruton said: "I suppose I will have to say that we will need access to this fund and Ireland will be looking to say can we vote again, because we will need access to this fund."
Asked if he meant a second poll, he said: "I’m saying that we will have a crisis on our hands and we will face a really, really difficult situation in funding ourselves. That’s the reality."

Immediately after the Today FM debate, both Mr Bruton and Simon Coveney, director of Fine Gael’s referendum campaign, insisted there will be no second vote no matter what outcome emerges from the ballot.

Mr Bruton said his comments "may unnecessarily have caused some confusion… Let me be emphatic; there will be no second vote. We’re either in or we’re out, and the Irish people will make their decision on May 31".

Mr Coveney issued a statement saying "under no circumstances will there be a second vote on the Stability Treaty".

Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s spokesperson also tried to limit the damage, saying: "There will be no second vote. The treaty can be ratified without us."

No campaigners seized on the comments as proof of an underhand Government agenda.

Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty branded Mr Bruton’s remarks as "an outrage and an affront to democracy".

"It is clear that the Government is intent on bullying the people into accepting a treaty that is detrimental to their interests."

Earlier, the Government claimed that major investors are holding back on pumping money into Ireland until a yes vote is secured in the referendum — a move dismissed as more evidence of Government scaremongering by no campaigners.

Leo Varadkar, the transport minister, said potential backers for joint road and rail developments were concerned about the implications of a no vote.

"The vote is very important on the transport side because I am trying to conclude agreements to invest in railways and roads and they are all 30-year contracts, particularly the public-private partnerships.

"When I meet funders and investors, they ask me if we conclude this 30-year contract with you to build this PPP road will you pay us back in euros — are the Irish people actually committed to the euro or not?"

Meanwhile, a Millward Brown Lansdowne poll for the Irish Independent has found a loss of support for both Government parties.

Fine Gael’s support was 34%, down two points from the general election. Labour’s support is down four to 15%. Fianna Fáil’s held steady at 17% while Sinn Féin’s rose seven points to 17%. The poll also found a satisfaction rating of just 29% for the Government while 65% said they were dissatisfied.

A new a study from McGill University and the University of Minnesota published in the journal Nature compared organic and conventional yields from 66 studies and over 300 trials. Researchers found that on average, conventional systems out-yielded organic farms by 25%—mostly for grains, and depending on conditions.

Embracing the current conventional wisdom, the authors argue for a combination of conventional and organic farming to meet “the twin challenge of feeding a growing population, with rising demand for meat and high-calorie diets, while simultaneously minimizing its global environmental impacts.”

Unfortunately, neither the study nor the conventional wisdom addresses the real cause of hunger.

Hunger is caused by poverty and inequality, not scarcity. For the past two decades the rate of global food production has increased faster than the rate of global population growth. The world already produces more than 1 ½ times enough food to feed everyone on the planet. That’s enough to feed 10 billion people, the population peak we expect by 2050. But the people making less than $2 a day—most of whom are resource-poor farmers cultivating unviably small plots of land—can’t afford to buy this food.

On mature reflection and in consultation with many others, it has been decided to postpone this march .. People will understand the importance of voting on the day , It would be difficult for those travelling from various parts of the country to both vote and march , Should there be any other events or activities around this time , please let us know , Thanking you , Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir ,

Last month the Vatican announced it was cracking down on American nuns for not sufficiently pushing the Catholic Bishops anti-gay, anti-woman agenda. Who was behind this sudden and aggressive push-back against women many American Catholics deeply respect? The same shamed men behind the church’s sex abuse cover-up and complicity.

David Gibson reports that conservative American churchmen living in Rome, among them the disgraced former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, were key figures pushing the hostile takeover the the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, or LCWR. Law and other hard-right Catholic leaders don’t like the group because of its emphasis of social justice work over loyalty to church hierarchy and issues like abortion and gay marriage.

The Government has today rebuffed another attempt to delay the vote on the EU Fiscal Treaty.

Independent TD Shane Ross put forward legislation in the Dáil that would allow the coalition to delay the referendum.

However, the Tánaiste said that the move is just an extreme measure by the Dublin South TD to delay declaring his stance on the vote.

"What do you think investors are going to do?" said the Tánaiste.

"I attended a meeting yesterday morning, organised by the American Chamber of Commerce - a hundred senior executives of American companies who are investing here.

What kind of report do you think they would send back to their headquarters if I was to say to them: 'We're postponing the referendum, we're going to see what way the wind is blowing'?"