Mr Cowen said: “It is a good day for Ireland, it is a good day for Europe.

“Today the Irish people have spoken with a clear and resounding voice.

“We as a nation have taken a decisive step for a stronger, fairer and better Ireland and a stronger, fairer and better Europe.”

Yes campaigners maintained Ireland has to be in the heart of Europe to take the country out of a recession securing a massive turnaround from last June at the ballot box.

Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) president Padraig Walshe said despite enduring very difficult conditions, farmers separated issues with Government policy from the importance of our membership of the European community.

Mr Walshe said: “Farm families have a huge stake in the future of Europe.”

“They recognise the importance of staying at the heart of Europe, and working with our European colleagues to get the best results for the agri-food sector in this country.”

“Farm families were not distracted by bogus claims or false arguments. They know that our Yes vote will best position the IFA to defend Irish agriculture and meet future challenges in Europe.”

Influential lobby group the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (Ibec) said the decision was good for Ireland and Europe.

Director general Danny McCoy said: “The vote is an important step on the road to economic recovery and the restoration of Ireland’s international reputation.

“Work must now continue on repairing the Irish banking system and bringing order to the public finances.”

Prominent Yes campaigner Pat Cox, a former president of the European Parliament, also claimed the voters of Ireland put their country first.

Mr Cox, who headed the Ireland for Europe campaign group, said: “This was a mature vote in which the Irish people rejected those voices telling them to make the referendum a verdict on the government and on national policies.

“The voters also resisted the Trojan horses that were wheeled into this country bearing British eurosceptics, like the United Kingdom Independence Party, the Open Europe think-tank and the British-owned anti-European media.”

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan denied worried voters were frightened in to accepting the EU reform deal and maintained they simply realised the economic future of the country was with Europe.

But Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore warned the Government the ratification of the treaty had been secured in the national interest and not in support of coalition leaders Fianna Fail.

“The national interest now requires that this Fianna Fail government is removed from office as quickly as possible,” said Mr Gilmore.

“During the course of this campaign we found that the biggest single obstacle to securing a Yes vote was public fury at the Fianna Fail government that has brought this country to the brink of economic ruin,

“The people want Fianna Fail out. No government can function with any credibility or authority when it enjoys so little support among the majority of voters.”

Supporters insist the treaty is nothing more than an attempt to streamline EU decision-making in a Union of 27 countries - and possibly more soon.

But to its opponents, the Lisbon Treaty is a federalist plot, handing more power to Brussels and diminishing national sovereignty.

The document the Irish people have endorsed - though probably not read - emerged from a still-born EU Constitution, which fell victim to referendum “No” votes in France and the Netherlands in 2005.

So instead of a new, all-embracing Constitution, EU draftsmen and women came up with an “amending treaty”, hoping to calm eurosceptic fears.

But they reckoned without a disaffected Irish nation, which said “No” in a referendum last year, on the grounds that the Lisbon treaty would hand power to Brussels over Irish taxation policy, and a range of social issues, notably abortion. Ireland’s traditional neutrality would also be up for grabs under the Lisbon Treaty it was claimed.

Legal guarantees added to the Treaty promised that none of the above would be - or ever were - called into question by approval of the document.

The pledges were dismissed by eurosceptics, but seem to have helped win majority support this time, coupled with a specific pledge that Ireland would continue to have a Commissioner at the Brussels negotiating table.