The Irish have spoken...

...and they've clearly said "NO!"

Yes, it's true, the Irish electorate has delivered a decisive no vote to the EU constitution - oh, sorry, the Treaty of Lisbon, my bad.

When the first draft of the constitution was rejected by French and Dutch referenda in 2005, the politicians went away and had a think then came back with the Treaty of Lisbon, which was basically a repackaged constitution. Not wishing to be embarassed by their own electorates, governments decided not to let their votes have a say and push the treaty through their respective parliaments, most notoriously here in the UK where the government reneged on a promise to hold a referendum on the false pretext the rejected constitution and the treaty were completely different.

So credit is due then to Micheál Ó Gríobhtha, John Hearne and those who helped them draft the Irish constitution, and the Irish Supreme Court which ruled that treaties which substantially alter the nature of the EU would require a constitutional amendment and therefore a referendum. Without them, not one single voter in Europe would have had a say on this treaty. But the real praise should go to the Irish people themselves who, despite the combined efforts of all of their major political parties, unions and most of the press, combined with barely veiled threats from the continent, refused to be bullied and struck a blow for democracy across right across Europe. Today, they are all heroes.

Of course, how the EU will respond to to this remains to be seen. History tells us that when the EU hasn't got its way in the past, it justs keeps on asking the question again until it's got the answer it wants. But this shouldn't come as a surprise given the EU is inherently contemptuous of the democratic process. Even as I type this I hear that Gordon Brown has said he will complete ratification of the treaty in the UK. It takes breathtaking arrogance to persue ratification of a treaty which is, thanks to the Irish, legally dead in the water.

It will be interesting to see if the eurocrats and their puppets in the Irish government do indeed try to browbeat the Irish into voting again in a year or two. In an ideal world, they would consider the fact that on the three occasions the public have had their say they have decisively said no, and perhaps go away and listen to what the people of Europe actually want from the EU, rather than try and find creative new ways to usurp the will of the people.