TIMELINE - Past Irish votes on EU agreements

(Reuters) - Irish voters rejected the European Union's reform treaty on Friday, the latest of a series of EU referenda in a nation which, by law, must put any changes to its constitution to a national ballot.

Following is a chronology of Irish votes on Europe.

May 10, 1972 -- Ireland votes to join the European Community with 82 percent in favour and voter turnout of 71 percent. It becomes a member the following year with Britain and Denmark.

May 26, 1987 - Just 44 percent of the Irish electorate votes in a poll to endorse the Single European Act, but the result is 70 percent in favour.

June 18, 1992 - Ireland votes resoundingly in favour of the Maastricht treaty which paved the way for the creation of the European Union and the introduction of the euro currency. Turnout was 57 percent and support stood at 69 percent.

May 22, 1998 - Ireland ratifies the Amsterdam Treaty on further European integration, signed in 1997. The turnout was around 56 percent and support stood at 60 percent.

June 7, 2001 - Irish voters, in a stunning blow to the EU's eastward expansion plans, reject the Nice Treaty on EU reform. Around 53 percent voted against with 45 percent in favour and a relatively large number of spoilt votes. Turnout was low, at about 35 percent of the electorate of 2.9 million.

The treaty was rejected partly due to fears the accord would compromise Ireland's traditional military neutrality.

October 19, 2002 - Ireland votes "Yes" to the Nice treaty in a second referendum where turnout is 49 percent. Some 63 percent of voters back the pact while 37 percent vote against a treaty deemed essential for admitting 10 applicant countries, mostly from eastern Europe, to the EU in 2004. The government promised voters the treaty would protect Irish neutrality.