Editing Treaty of Nice (section)

===First referendum===
{{Main|Twenty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2001}}
To the surprise of the Irish government and the other EU member states, Irish voters [[Twenty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2001|rejected the Treaty of Nice]] in June 2001. The turnout itself was low (34%), partly a result of the failure of the major Irish political parties to mount a strong campaign on the issue, presuming that the Irish electorate would pass the Treaty as all previous such Treaties had been passed by big majorities.
However, many Irish voters were critical of the Treaty contents, believing that it marginalised smaller states. Others questioned the impact of the Treaty on [[Irish neutrality]]. Other sections viewed the leadership of the Union as out of touch and arrogant, with the Treaty offering a perceived chance to 'shock' the European leadership into a greater willingness to listen to its critics. (A similar argument was made when [[Denmark]] initially [[1992 Danish Maastricht Treaty referendum|voted down]] the [[Treaty of Maastricht]].)