Cowen ‘respects’ our verdict but refuses to rule out new referendum

THE only reason the Lisbon Treaty is not being renegotiated is because Brian Cowen failed to carry out his democratic mandate to represent the wishes of the Irish people to his European partners.

Instead he chose to insult our intelligence and opt for the familiar path of craven political cowardice by kow-towing to his EU colleagues, speaking out of both sides of his mouth.

If he thinks we the public are too stupid to perceive clearly what he has done, then he is sorely mistaken, just as he was mistaken in thinking the 800,000-plus of us who voted against the Lisbon Treaty would accept his attempt to smear us in the Dáil by referring to our “new friend”, the French right-wing leader, Jean-Marie le Pen. (In fact, le Pen refused the cynical invitation of yes campaigners to come over to debate in the lead-up to the referendum). Incredibly, the Taoiseach is attacking and apologising for his own people instead of defending our interests.