Sarkozy warned not to dictate over Lisbon

TENSIONS surrounding French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s lightning strike visit to Dublin erupted into the open last night as he was warned not to dare “dictate” to Ireland.

The blunt rebuke from Labour leader Eamon Gilmore came as it emerged Mr Sarkozy will not meet members of the pubic during his four-hour visit on Monday.

“The French president is quite welcome to come to Ireland to talk to whoever he wants to talk to. What he is not welcome to do, however, is to start dictating to us what we should be doing as a country,” said Mr Gilmore.