The election of new French president, Francois Hollande, has given a boost to hopes for approval of the EU fiscal treaty referendum later this month, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has insisted.
The Republic will go to the polls on May 31 to ratify the treaty, which aims to curb the spending of EU nation states. Hollande is opposed to the treaty as currently formulated.
Kenny has insisted the vote would still go ahead and welcomed statements made by Hollande on European economic growth policies.
Claiming socialist Hollande, who defeated Nicolas Sarkozy in a bitter election result last weekend, was singing from the same hymn sheet as the Irish government, Kenny said the vote would still take place, after some called for its postponement.
"I welcome the fact that president-elect Hollande has been talking about growth and investment which is what Ireland has been talking about for the last number of months. Clearly, we support that principle very strongly as an addition and, as in his own words, as a complement to the existing treaty," Kenny said.
