The Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, has said Ireland will not be forced to hold a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Mr Cowen was speaking in the US following reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy told his party colleagues in Paris yesterday that Ireland will have to vote again on the contentious treaty.

He said that, while Ireland had to discuss the matter with Mr Sarkozy due to France's presidency of the EU, he in turn needed to take the Irish people's rejection of the treaty last month into account.

Foreign Affairs Minister Michael Martin has also responded to Mr Sarkozy's reported remarks by saying that Ireland and Ireland alone will decide what course of action to take.

Elsewhere, Green Party leader John Gormley told TV3's Nightly News last night that the idea of a second referendum has been discussed and dismissed by the cabinet.

Mr Sarkozy is due to visit Ireland next week to discuss the fallout from the Lisbon rejection.