Irish alternatives

Patrick Smyth analyses in the Irish Times the possibilities open to the Irish government after the referendum: "The Brussels EU summit ... clarified the options facing Taoiseach [head of government] Brian Cowen after the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. ... Brian Cowen was getting plenty of sympathy in Brussels on Thursday and Friday and the sort of breathing space that a grieving man needs to begin to put his life back together again. ... But Sarkozy and Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel sent out clear ... signals that they see Cowen's options as very limited. Eventually, and well before the European elections next June, the Irish people would again have to be asked to bring Lisbon's institutional reforms into force."

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