Czech Deputy PM for Foreign Affairs in Ireland

The danger is now that the anti-democratic forces behind the EU will force the March EU Council to go back on the pledge to give the Irish until October for their second referendum. The meeting in Cork today, read here, throws little light on that possibility but the Presidency statement before the meeting was perfectly clear, as may be read from this quote at the conclusion of the linked statement: The conclusions of the December European Council state that work on the guarantees should be concluded no later than mid-2009. If the Government are fully satisfied with the outcome of this work, it will seek ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, by way of a further referendum before the end of the term of the current Commission, which is due to leave office at the end of October. No decision can be taken on the timing of any referendum until the commitments made by the European Council have been delivered upon to the Government’s full satisfaction. Note the inclusion of s statement that it is a sovereign Irish decision (of their government one presumes as the sovereign Irish people have already spoken - assumptions as to their reasons are simply that- assumptions).