Even the Eurocrats won't be able to ignore this vote
Ruth Dudley Edwards 2:51pm
I’ve just had a joyful phone call from Kevin Myers, one of the very few Irish journalists who was on the ‘No’ side. I was fearing the Irish vote would just be ignored, but Kevin, rarely an optimist, convinced me that the Irish electorate won’t stand for being told – as in the case of their vote against Nice - to vote again and give the right answer; and the turn-out was so high that it legitimizes a very clear result. What’s more, the Irish Taoiseach is not popular and times are hard, so riding roughshod over the voters is not an easy option.
This is not a good time to be a Eurocrat. Even they cannot ignore that the Irish reflect public opinion across the continent.
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Nicholas
June 13th, 2008 2:57pm Report this commentIs it true that Brown has telephoned Sárközy to tell him that he is going to ignore the Irish result and press on with ratifying the Lisbon Treaty in Britain?
If so, it would seem an even riskier strategy than DD's as most British people have been viewing the Irish referendum in proxy for the one promised but denied to them.
Can Brown legally do this?
Jo
June 13th, 2008 3:02pm Report this commentAlready the establishment are blaming 'the influence of elements of the British media' and 'the American Military' for this voting down of the Lisbon Treaty/EU Constitution. Desperate.
David Kavanagh
June 13th, 2008 3:13pm Report this commentIrish eyes are smiling - and so are those of the English, the French etc etc who still value their ancient freedoms. These Irish voters have applied the brakes on the seemingly unstoppable bureaucratic juggernaut creating a Soviet Union-style European dictator state that I do not want my children to have to live in. Now we need to find ways to start puncturing that same juggernaut's tyres and fuel tank.
Austin Barry
June 13th, 2008 3:27pm Report this commentMyers, a great cricketer in the his time as a Phoenix Park Taverner, will savour the ball bowled by the Irish XI: a vicious short-pitched bouncer hitting the EU in the middle of its corrupt, undemocratic and parasitic head.
Peter Wilson
June 13th, 2008 3:38pm Report this commentThey can and will ignore the Irish vote I'm afraid, EU actions in the past prove this. The treaty will be enforced one way or the other - I put my house on it.
The EU hates democracy and the wishes of the people.
felicity
June 13th, 2008 4:09pm Report this commentBravo the Irish - but such a shame that they will be ignored! Britain will no doubt continue enforcing every tiny European law and requirement, no matter how detrimental they are to the country, while the rest of Europe will continue to ignore the bits they don't like! Maybe that is why Europe were able to ratify the "treaty" with little or no backlash.
Fergus Pickering
June 13th, 2008 4:10pm Report this commentOf COURSE the bastards will ignore it.
Steve the Student
June 13th, 2008 7:33pm Report this commentI agree with the last three posts. This was never about discovering whether or not the Irish people wanted the constitution, it was about giving it a fig-leaf of legitimacy. They'll find some underhanded way of getting it through - after all, that's how they made it this far.
Pete, Scotland
June 13th, 2008 11:45pm Report this commentYes they can & bet they will.
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