Dublin - French President Nicolas Sarkozy was due in Dublin Monday to discuss Ireland's rejection of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty with Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, amid controversy sparked by his remarks that Ireland would have to hold a second referendum. 

Sarkozy, who is acting head of the EU as France currently holds the EU presidency, told members of his Union for a Popular Movement Party (UMP) Tuesday that "the Irish must vote again." 

Voters in Ireland rejected the treaty to streamline the EU in a referendum June 12. 

The French president was set to arrive at 1400 GMT for a five-hour visit to include a meeting with Cowen at government buildings as well as a meeting with representatives of the yes and no sides at the French embassy. 

Playing down the row over Sarkozy's remarks, which were said to have made him quietly furious, Cowen said at the weekend that he hoped for a "good discussion" with the French president. 

Their talks would centre on determining how Ireland could proceed in a way that respects the outcome of the Lisbon referendum without bringing the EU reform process to an end, he added. 

The treaty requires the approval of all 27 EU member states before it can be ratified. 

The leader of Ireland's Labour Party, Eamon Gilmore, declined an invitation to attend the round-table meeting at the French embassy during which both sides could present their views to Sarkozy. 

According to Gilmore, the proposed format of the meeting was "pointless" as the time allowed and the number of participants, representatives from at least 16 different groups, would not permit any real engagement on the issues. 

The format of the meeting would allow for each person to make a three-minute presentation to Sarkozy, he told Irish national broadcaster RTE. 

"This kind of idea that President Sarkozy can come to Ireland and persuade us to change our mind to try and hear what we have to say and give us all three minutes each, I think there is a little degree of arrogance in that," he said. 

There was also confusion over whether the leader of the opposition, the Fine Gael party's Enda Kenny, would be invited to hold a separate meeting with the French president. 

Irish media reported Sunday that Kenny, as was the case with Gilmore, was not willing to meet with Sarkozy as part of a large group invited to the French embassy. 

It was expected that last-minute arrangements would be made for a separate meeting between Sarkozy and opposition leaders. 

Declan Ganley, the leader of Libertas, the organization that spearheaded the no campaign in Ireland, accepted an invitation to the meeting at the French embassy. 

A representative of Sinn Fein, the only Irish parliamentary party to campaign for a no vote, is also due to take part. 

Former Green Member of the European Parliament Patricia McKenna, a no campaigner, was critical of the decision to scrap a public meeting with no campaigners. 

"The government needs to realize that it was the no side that won the referendum," she told The Irish Times. 

A "no means no" protest organized by anti-treaty group People Before Profit Alliance would be held outside Government Buildings as Sarkozy was due to arrive. 

The French president is to be accompanied by Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who is credited with having boosted the no campaign in Ireland by remarking a week before the referendum that Ireland would be the "first to suffer" if the country voted no. (dpa)