I think it's not just Europe that needs to reform its ways, we too in Ireland need to address our own democratic deficit and reform how we govern ourselves and how we interact with external entities.

As you said, the use of a single referendum to deal with something as complex as this type of treaty is utter madness. But, even if we could get the EU to spoon feed changes, there will always be the likes of the WTO, UN resolutions, Good Friday agreements, all made up of multiple compromises and complex legalities, wrapped in a single bundle. The only effective way to manage such complexities is through representative democracy (or benevolent dictatorship, but I think we'll leave that to the Chinese).

This idea that there is some form of "pure" democracy is a nonsense. If Europe were to offer the "more" democratic route of allowing all European citizen to vote, then voting as single block of 400 million citizens would be closer to that "pure" democracy. And yes, if that had happened, Lisbon would not pass, but in that scenario, it would not be Lisbon that would presented for ratification, but a treaty designed to appeal to a majority of voters (not countries). If you want an example of this today, look at the Eurovision, majority tastes would be unlikely to be those of Ireland.

We need to find a way to ensure that those we elect, we also trust (with the power to sanction those who abuse that trust, I'm think corruption, conflic of interest etc.);and having done that, allow them to govern in the best interests of the country at large and not have to constantly respond to sectional interests, be they builders, farmers, trade unions or save-the-local-hospitallers.

We need to be able to elect legislators not nudge-nudge wink-wink i'll-get-you-that-just-tell-me-what-you-want types. That's what county councillors are for.

Tom