Dublin, Brussels - As the EU's summer summit concluded Friday, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen accepted responsibility for the June 12 rejection by Irish voters of the Lisbon Treaty and said he could not say whether Ireland would vote again on the treaty.

"I take whatever responsibility is appropriate for me," Cowen said in Brussels.

In comments carried by national broadcaster RTE, Cowen said there was no quick fix to the crisis created by Ireland's rejection of the treaty aimed at streamlining decision-making in the 27-member bloc.

He said it was too early to know how to move forward at this time.

Reporters were told at the post-summit press conference that French President Nicolas Sarkozy would visit Dublin next month to discuss the way forward. France assumes the EU presidency on July 1.

Public reaction in Ireland to the EU leadership's response to the referendum result was varied Friday, with more voices defending the no vote in the country's two broadsheets, the Irish Times and the Irish Examiner.

One letter writer from the south-western city of Cork said the Irish had shown the rebel spirit of their days fighting British oppression, but "I have a sinking feeling about this. I hope to God I'm wrong," he wrote in the Irish Examiner.

Others were more forthright: "Is our government stupid or what? What part of 'no' don't they understand? The people have spoken. Let that be an end of it."

Many letters wrote of a "disconnect" with the people, with some saying the government now had a chance to rebuild trust in the institutions of Ireland and the EU.

"I voted no because I hate being ignored by an arrogant government," one woman from Bray near Dublin wrote in the Irish Times.

The parties that led the no campaign, like Sinn Fein and the Workers Party, said that the treaty was "dead in the water" and had to be renegotiated.

While in the minority, pro-treaty voices were not silent: one columnist in the Irish Times described the no result as a "disgrace."

"The impression to be gained is that we voted no ... because of irrelevancies, or peripheralities, or, in many instances, just plain spite, pique or ignorance," John Waters wrote.

Much was made in Friday's press of the sense of embarrassment many feel at Ireland's rejection of the treaty.

During the EU summit, France's Sarkozy was reported to have bounded over to reporters and asked where they were from. When they said Ireland, there was a visible deflation and awkwardness, before one journalist asked where his wife Carla Bruni was. He replied he was on his own before smiling and disappearing back inside.

The Irish Times said that Irish diplomats in Brussels "have aged years." (dpa)