The European Parliament should steer clear of Irish politics

In the five months since the Irish referendum on the Lisbon treaty in June there have been two developments: the Irish Taoiseach, Mr Brian Cowen, has become increasingly perplexed and the European elites - the European Parliament in particular - have become increasingly paranoid.

Mr Cowen, on whose broad shoulders the responsibility for delivering a "yes" vote squarely fell, was dismayed to have lost and since then has been pressured by his colleagues in the European Council to come up ...