Ireland’s options after the Lisbon Referendum: Strategies, implications and competing visions of Europe

Abstract: This article considers the options open to the Irish Government following the defeat of the Treaty of Lisbon in the June 2008 referendum, addressing also their legal and political implications. It argues that the choices to be made on the detail of the post-referendum
settlement will be crucial not just to Ireland’s interests, but also to Europe’s—and especially to the struggle between competing visions of Europe as a relatively one-speed, rather than a multi-speed, project.