Taoiseach refuses to rule out second Lisbon vote

THE Taoiseach has not ruled out a second referendum on the Lisbon treaty and said the Government will consider it “in due course”.

Brian Cowen was responding to comments made last weekend by Europe Minister Dick Roche that a second referendum was the “most appropriate” way to deal with the political fallout from the rejection of the treaty by Irish voters in June. Mr Roche was speaking at the Humbert summer school in Mayo.

Speaking from Ballyconneely in Connemara yesterday, where he has spent most of his summer holidays, Mr Cowen said talk of a second referendum was just “idle speculation at this stage”.