Is the Lisbon Reform Treaty dead or is it alive? For all the posturings in Brussels it is clear that, at this moment in time, the Treaty is as dead as dead can be; and, interesting point, the European Union is not functioning less efficiently for all that.

The Irish have been here before, of course, specifically when they rejected Nice seven years ago. Let us not forget they are not the renegades some have made them out to be. Before them there were the Danes; after them the French and the Dutch.

So when the Irish voters said "no", last week, they were exercising a right conferred upon them by the Union. Once the Treaty can only come into existence as a consequence of unanimous ratification, the Union ought, naturally, to abide by the decision and not carry on as if nothing had happened. As naturally, it enraged those who argued, undemocratically, that the Union could not be held hostage by a million plus Irish men and women. How, some spluttered, was it possible that the grand European idea could be brought to a halt by voters beyond the pale? And how, others fumed, could a country that had received such vast sums of spondulicks since it joined in 1973, turn its back on 26 other countries currently engaged in ratifying the Treaty through a parliamentary process?

This was not quite what was coming out of Brussels during the meeting called, initially, to tackle the vital questions of the leap in fuel prices and a surge in the price of food, but near enough. Inside the corridors of power, various leaders were expressing diplomatic, in some cases undiplomatic, concern over the Irish decision even as they called for caution. Some wrung their hands as if the sky had fallen on Brussels. The demonstrations against fuel prices added to this presentiment. The Irish, in short, had put the cat among many ruffled pigeons.

Their Prime Minister, who has been criticised for not mounting a vigorous enough "yes" campaign, was put on display alongside the President of the Commission last Thursday. He seemed uncomfortable, but then so did José Manuel Barrosso.

Brian Cowen called for patience to see how best to come out of the current impasse. It was too soon for a solution to be arrived at. The Czech Prime Minister rattled the leaders even more when he cautioned against any pressure on his country to ratify at a moment when it was uncertain that ratification could be swung. In Poland, a President ambivalent on the matter was being. . . ambivalent.

The fact of the matter is that with or without the Lisbon Treaty the European Union will continue to function; as indeed it has been doing. The fear that enlargement would bring the institutional machinery to a grinding halt has not materialised. Studies indicate that the enlarged Union has worked more efficiently than before. For Malta it means that we will not be getting our sixth MEP. At the risk of upsetting local Europhiles it is not recommendable to consider this as being the end of the world.

It is to the good, as a matter of democratic principle, that a country empowered to ratify or not to ratify a Treaty (some call it Reform, others by its proper name - an amended Constitution) chose the course of action it took. The answer is not to ignore this but seriously to address it.