Patrick, you obviously know more about the Irish referendums than me. But what do you think about the French and Dutch referendums of 2005? In both cases the EU constitution was rejected. The EU went on to create the Lisbon Treaty which was substantially the same thing. This time the French and Dutch electorate did not get a referendum. As Jean-Claude Junker said at the time “If it's a Yes, we will say 'on we go', and if it's a No we will say 'we continue’,” And that's just what they did.

Here of course having a referendum on the EU constitution was a 2005 Labour Party manifesto pledge. Once elected they reneged on it.