Ireland to hold fresh EU treaty referendum on Oct 2

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland will hold a second referendum on the European Union's Lisbon reform treaty on October 2, Prime Minister Brian Cowen said on Wednesday.

Cowen won legal guarantees from his EU partners last month to address concerns of voters who last June opposed the treaty, designed to streamline EU decision-making and give the 27-nation bloc a greater say in world affairs.

"I believe these concerns have been addressed now in the shape of the legal guarantees," Cowen told parliament.

"On that basis, I recommended to the government that we return to the people to seek their approval for Ireland to ratify the treaty and that referendum will take place on October 2," he said.

The government, accused of failing to allay voters' concerns and not tackling opponents to the treaty head-on last year, has pledged to conduct a better organised and livelier campaign this time with plenty of information about the complex treaty text.

Opinion polls suggest the Lisbon treaty now has the support of a majority of voters who see the benefits of EU membership to help bring Ireland out of one of the deepest recessions in the industrialised world.

"I would not underestimate the strength of the feeling of confusion that is out there," said Enda Kenny, leader of opposition Fine Gael, which supports the Lisbon treaty and which won last month's elections for local councils by a large margin.

"I am not in any way led by opinions poll at this stage which indicate this is just an exercise to be gone through," Kenny said.

(Reporting by Andras Gergely; Editing by Louise Ireland)