A matter of trust

Irish PM Brian Cowen has announced there will be not be another referendum if Ireland votes 'no' to the Lisbon Treaty tomorrow.

He said: "There won't be a Lisbon Three -- that's for sure."

But hang on, that's exactly what they said last time. Click here to see Dick Roche, Irish Europe Minister, suggesting ahead of the first Irish referendum that it was 'delusional' to say there would be a second referendum.

He said:

"There is no plan B and there is absolutely no possibility of this Treaty being subject to a further renegotiation. The idea that we can reject this Treaty and have another Referendum as happened with the Nice Treaty is a dilusion. That cannot and will not happen."

And yet here we are.

The Irish government likes to pretend that no-one bullied them into voting again on the Lisbon Treaty after it initially gave the 'wrong' answer, but given Roche's unequivocal stance, clearly they did.