PARIS, July 15, 2008 (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a group of lawmakers Tuesday that Ireland will have to hold a second referendum on the EU reform treaty that was rejected last month, according to participants at the meeting.

'The Irish will have to re-vote,' Sarkozy told the meeting, according the deputies.

Sarkozy on Monday travels to Dublin to try to push for a solution to the crisis sparked by Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon treaty, designed to streamline decision-making in the enlarged European Union.

Ireland was the only EU country to put the treaty to a public referendum, where 52 percent of voters rejected the text on June 12.

The treaty must be ratified by all 27 member states to come into effect. The treaty is before the parliaments of several other member states for ratification.