SECOND VOTE:MINISTER FOR Finance Brian Lenihan yesterday did not rule out a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in the event of a defeat for the Yes campaign next week.
However, he said in his opinion the treaty could well be a "dead duck" in that circumstance, and it would not be easy to put it back together.
Speaking in Brussels, where he attended a meeting of EU finance ministers, Mr Lenihan said the Lisbon Treaty was very different from the Nice Treaty, which was voted on a second time after its defeat in a referendum in 2001.
"It was possible to run Nice a second time. Lisbon is very different because the No side have not really identified any item that can be dealt with by way of renegotiation.
"The fact is that the demand to clarify tax status is absurd given the fact that the taxation position is already clarified in the treaty, so there is no single demand that can be put up in a renegotiation."
Asked if a second referendum was being ruled out, he said: "There is no plan B and I'm saying that it's my considered judgment that if Ireland takes the responsibility uniquely as a member state to reject the Lisbon Treaty, the Lisbon Treaty may well be a dead duck." He said "you can't rule out anything in politics", and that he was an elected politician who was entitled to express his opinion.
"My opinion is that if there is a No vote, and Lisbon is a dead duck, it's not going to be very easy to get another treaty together, and Ireland will then take the responsibility for rejecting Lisbon.
"We were able to run Nice again but remember if you unravel a complex compromise agreement between 27 member states, it's far from clear to me, first of all, that it would be possible to negotiate a successor treaty, and secondly that we would be as well positioned in those negotiations."