The Irish Times made no secret of its support for the Lisbon Treaty during the referendum campaign, particularly in the comment of editorials and columnists such as Garrett Fitzgerald, but what are we to make of today’s column by Stephen Collins, who also doubles as a news reporter at the paper.

Collins takes on a new role as government adviser and Moses like has the tablets of stone that will solve the Lisbon Treaty conundrum. The Dail should seek to ratify the treaty while “opting out of  areas such as the charter of fundamental rights, which probably does require referendum approval, and the new defense arrangements whose misrepresentation prompted so many women to vote No“.

I wonder what women readers of the Irish Times think of being told that they were misled into voting No, while the more clever men voted Yes!

But what drove Collins to write such a prescriptive column, moving beyond the realm of reporting on actual news, or even offering analysis of news events, but instead jumping the rails into the world of fantasy solution provider.

A hint is offered in his opening paragraphs when Collins writes that, “At this stage it is hard to see how a confused and divided Yes side will be any match for a confident No campaign, awash with money and unhampered by any allegiance to truth“. Time for Steve to jump into his superhero costume.

So we have a dazed and confused government, with Labour and Fine Gael in tow, frustrated by a No side telling lies and easily led women so it is only right that journalists should take up the reigns of power.

The Irish Times solution is in the article headline – “Ratify Lisbon Treaty regardless of referendum result“. So maybe it is true that the Irish Times don’t really want to suggest what we should think about, they really want to tell us what to think!