THE people of Northern Ireland go to the polls today on the Good Friday Agreement, which the Prime Minister said yesterday he was confident would win a resounding Yes vote, reports Alison Hardie.
Mr Tony Blair concluded a frantic series of eleventh hour campaigning in Belfast by telling voters his vision for Northern Ireland was to transform the country into a place where ''no-one gives a damn if you are a Catholic or a Protestant''.
He said people in Northern Ireland had to trust themselves and vote Yes for a better, peaceful future for their children.
The final day of intensive campaigning by Mr Blair appeared to have reversed the trend of opinion polls which earlier this week had indicated support for a Yes vote was slipping.
The Prime Minister was absent from a Cabinet meeting for the first time after extending his visit to Northern Ireland. It was also the first time he had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with both Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble and Mr John Hume, leader of the nationalist SDLP. Mr Blair then declared: ''I hope as Prime Minister of this country people do give their support to our agreement in the referendum.
''I say this because I believe this agreement is right and just and proper and because I believe that the greatest injustice we could commit is to deny the people of Northern Ireland, particularly the children, the future they need, one of peace and stability and prosperity within a just and peaceful society.
''That is the future David Trimble and John Hume have brought together, I hope people back it tomorrow.''
Mr Blair began six hours of campaigning at 8am in the village of Templepatrick, near Belfast.
Later he went on a brief walkabout in Holywood, County Down, visited the Palace Barracks there, then to the Ulster Hospital on the outskirts of Belfast.
He told nurses: ''This is my country, too. I believe in it and if we can only get a stable framework in place then we have the best chance in years to bring peace.
''When I am asked what my vision is for Northern Ireland 20 or 30 years from now, I say it will be a Northern Ireland where no-one gives a damn whether you are a Catholic or a Protestant, but simply a normal citizen.''
Mr Blair said a successful Yes vote would only be the beginning of a long process of rehabilitation for Northern Ireland. ''I don't pretend and I don't guarantee that everything can be sorted out even if everything goes the way I want it to go tomorrow. That is only the beginning, another step on a long process, but it is the best chance that we have.''
Mr Trimble said the importance of today's referendum would ''spread into decades to come'' and said the agreement would help people ''work out ways in which Northern Ireland can live at peace with itself and with its neighbours.''
Mr Hume added: ''By devoting all our energies to building rather than to quarrelling we will be transforming our society and I am asking people to come out in strength and cast their votes not just for themselves but for their children and their grandchildren.''
The leader of the Conservatives, Mr William Hague, also visited Belfast to tell voters it had to be right to give the agreement a chance.
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