On 12 June, voters in Ireland rejected the EU Lisbon Treaty by 53.4% to 46.6% in a national referendum. Turnout was relatively high, at 53%.

However, EU leaders have made it clear they intend to push ahead with ratification of the Treaty throughout Europe, regardless of the 'no' vote. Gordon Brown joined the chorus of leaders saying that ratification must continue, and the Treaty was formally ratified in the House of Lords last week.

EU rules clearly state that any Treaty must be unanimously ratified by all member states, or it cannot come into force. Therefore, as has been pointed out by Czech President Vaclav Klaus, the Lisbon Treaty should be dead. But despite this, and despite continually insisting that they want to "respect" the Irish no vote, EU leaders are intent on pushing through the Lisbon Treaty one way or another. Only the Czech Republic has said it will halt ratification, pending the outcome of a decision by the Constitutional Court, expected in the autumn.

The reactions across Europe show just exactly how determined EU leaders are to ram through the Lisbon Treaty - and their level of contempt for Irish voters:

"They [the Irish] are bloody fools. They have been stuffing their faces at Europe's expense for years and now they dump us in the s***." - Nicolas Sarkozy, French President (Times, 20 June)

"The Lisbon Treaty is not dead... It is imperative that they vote again." - Valery Giscard d'Estaing, former French President and author of the EU Constitution (RTL, 19 June)

"I don't think you can say the treaty of Lisbon is dead even if the ratification process will be delayed." - Jean-Pierre Jouyet, French Europe Minister (Reuters, 16 June)

"I am convinced that we need this Treaty. Therefore we are sticking with our goal for it to come into force. The ratification process must continue." - Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Foreign Minister (Reuters, 14 June)

"Of course we have to take the Irish referendum seriously. But a few million Irish cannot decide on behalf of 495 million Europeans." - Wolfgang Schaeuble, German Interior Minister (Deutsche Welle, 15 June)

"We think it is a real cheek that the country that has benefited most from the EU should do this. There is no other Europe than this treaty. With all respect for the Irish vote, we cannot allow the huge majority of Europe to be duped by a minority of a minority of a minority." - Axel Schäfer, SPD leader in the German Bundestag (Irish Times, 14 June)

The Treaty "will be applied, albeit a few months late." - Lopez Garrido, Spanish Europe Minister (Forbes, 15 June)

"The Treaty is not dead. The Treaty is alive, and we will try to work to find a solution." - Jose Barroso, European Commission President (Press Conference, 14 June)

The idea is to pile pressure on the Irish to vote on the Treaty again, faced with the prospect of all 26 other EU member states having ratified it. It seems likely that there will be a second vote in Ireland, after protocols on issues perceived to have been of concern to the Irish, such as neutrality, family law and taxation, have been inserted in to the Treaty. Media reports this week quoted Irish government sources saying that Taoiseach Brian Cowen has been given a year by his European counterparts to push through a second referendum on the Treaty (Irish Independent 20 June). France, which will take over the EU's rotating chair on July 1, wants to agree a deadline of October for a deal to be agreed which would lead to a second referendum in the spring (Guardian 19 June).

Another alternative being discussed is to attach the more complicated proposals of the Lisbon Treaty to the forthcoming accession treaty for Croatia, while implementing the simpler ones through ordinary decision procedures. The French Foreign Ministry has signalled that many of the proposals in the Treaty, such as the EU diplomatic service, could be carried through by "discreet talks". (Euractiv 25 June)