It would appear that Ireland is to hold another referendum on the Constitution Lisbon treaty;
"EU officials expect Ireland to hold second Lisbon Treaty referendum"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ireland/2778154/EU-officals-expect-Ireland-to-hold-second-Lisbon-Treaty-referendum.html
It seems the Irish Times thinks the "no" voters are just victims of their own simple-mindedness;
"Failure to understand Lisbon the key reason for No vote"
STEPHEN COLLINS and JAMIE SMYTH
"THE DIFFICULTY faced by the Government in getting the Lisbon Treaty passed in a second referendum has been underlined by its own research which found that a significant number of people did not understand what they were voting on last June.
An opinion poll commissioned by the Government found that 42 per cent of people cited a lack of knowledge, information or understanding of the treaty as the reason for voting No. It was by far the most significant reason given for voting against the treaty."
This fails to address the fact that many of the "yes" voters will have not understood the document either and may have voted "no" if they had. It also fails to explain that the document was not meant to be understood;
“The Lisbon Treaty itself cannot be understood by ordinary citizens since it can be understood only by also reading the treaties which it amends. . . The institutional proposals of the constitutional treaty – the only things which mattered for the members of the European Convention – are in the Lisbon treaty in their entirety but in a different order and inserted into previous treaties. - What is the purpose of this subtle manoeuvre? First and above all to escape from the constraint of having to hold a referendum by dispersing the articles and by renouncing the constitutional vocabulary.”
The Treaty's author, Valerie Giscard d’Estaing, writing in Le Monde, 26 October 2007.
"EU officials expect Ireland to hold second Lisbon Treaty referendum"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ireland/2778154/EU-officals-expect-Ireland-to-hold-second-Lisbon-Treaty-referendum.html
It seems the Irish Times thinks the "no" voters are just victims of their own simple-mindedness;
"Failure to understand Lisbon the key reason for No vote"
STEPHEN COLLINS and JAMIE SMYTH
"THE DIFFICULTY faced by the Government in getting the Lisbon Treaty passed in a second referendum has been underlined by its own research which found that a significant number of people did not understand what they were voting on last June.
An opinion poll commissioned by the Government found that 42 per cent of people cited a lack of knowledge, information or understanding of the treaty as the reason for voting No. It was by far the most significant reason given for voting against the treaty."
This fails to address the fact that many of the "yes" voters will have not understood the document either and may have voted "no" if they had. It also fails to explain that the document was not meant to be understood;
“The Lisbon Treaty itself cannot be understood by ordinary citizens since it can be understood only by also reading the treaties which it amends. . . The institutional proposals of the constitutional treaty – the only things which mattered for the members of the European Convention – are in the Lisbon treaty in their entirety but in a different order and inserted into previous treaties. - What is the purpose of this subtle manoeuvre? First and above all to escape from the constraint of having to hold a referendum by dispersing the articles and by renouncing the constitutional vocabulary.”
The Treaty's author, Valerie Giscard d’Estaing, writing in Le Monde, 26 October 2007.
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