Ireland’s government is confident of victory in Thursday's eurozone fiscal pact referendum as secret official polling forecasts that over 60pc of Irish voters will tick the Yes box. Polling stations will close at 10pm on Thursday after the only popular vote to be held in the 25 European Union countries that have signed up to a treaty that enshrines eurozone austerity rules into national law. After a quiet but bad-tempered campaign government and EU officials are betting that widespread Irish fears of tougher times ahead if voters say No will beat popular anger over austerity measures demanded in return for EU loans. ... (full story)