MINISTER OF STATE Brian Hayes has said that the electorate sent the government a “clear message” in the Fiscal Treaty referendum that the government needs to “get their act together”.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie this afternoon, Hayes welcomed the referendum results so far and thanked the public for taking to the polls and voting.

However, he said that the No voters were clearly sending a signal to the government over their dissatisfaction with the economic situation:

A majority of those who voted No were frustrated with their living standards and prospects. The only way to fix that is to be given jobs and we have to reach out to those people.

The government has been sent a clear message that they have to get their act together.

Commenting on the government’s Yes campaign, the junior minister denied that it was over-hyped and said that they “told the truth”.

He added that the Irish government “has to pick its fights cleverly” in terms of issues in the eurozone.

“We’re very interested in Spain and the situation there and any solution which involves a bank recapitalisation in the eurozone would set a very interesting precedent for the totality of debt in Ireland,” he said.

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- Additional reporting by Sinéad O’Carroll

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