Irish thrown the EU into confusion

8.56.48am UTC (GMT +0000) Sat 14th Jun 2008

Republic of Ireland flag

The Irish have voted 53.6% to 46.4%, against the new Lisbon Treaty this week.

Eighteen countries had already ratified the Treaty. The Republic of Ireland was the only country to hold a referendum throwing the whole process into confusion.

Next week's summit in Brussels will now concentrate on what to do, if the EU attempts to press ahead and ask the Republic of Ireland to vote again at some point pressure will continue to grown in the UK for a referendum here too.

José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, said that he believed the treaty is alive. It is hard to see how though if one country refuses to ratify it!