Irish report backs second vote on EU treaty

A second referendum on a modified Lisbon treaty is the main option for Ireland, according to a report submitted by a cross-party group of deputies in the country's parliament on Thursday (27 November), EU Observer reports.

The group was set up under the auspices of the Joint Committee on European Affairs with the formal title of the Subcommittee on Ireland's Future in the European Union.

Dublin will announce its next move on the EU's reform treaty - rejected in Ireland in a June referendum - to the bloc's leaders at their gathering in Brussels on 11 and 12 December.

The parliamentary report does not recommend any particular action to the Irish government but it highlights two possible options - ratification or non-ratification of the document, which needs to get a unanimous backing across the member states so as to come into effect in the 27-strong Union.

Of the two options, the Irish parliamentary report clearly favours ratification, in form of a repeated popular vote. "If a decision is made to hold another referendum, it would be expected that the Government would make an attempt to respond at both domestic and EU level to the range of concerns expressed during the referendum campaign."