Nickhere, another factor was that highlighted by Senator Shane Ross (who's views I would not normally be sympathetic too!), that of the Common Consolidated Tax Base (CCTB), which Nicolas Sarkozy's finance minister, Christine Lagarde, said she would re-visit as soon as France got the Presidency. At the time she said she "hadn't met any Irish people that were afraid of anything. It has been going on for a long time, it's an issue that we are determined to push."

This frightened the government as it would affect Ireland's tax status--both France and Germany want it changed. In deference to the government, the Commission agreed at the summit in December not to publish a draft directive on a harmonised corporate tax base until after the Irish referendum, in case it might upset the applecart, even though the taxation Commissioner Laszlo Kovacs said last year his preference was to publish it in the spring of 2008.

Now, Sarkozy's spokesperson has just said that Ireland will have to have another referendum, saying he has "no doubt that Ireland's leaders should be capable of persuading to vote in favour of the Treaty".