The cabinet will today seek to devise a Nice Treaty referendum wording that will allay public concerns over neutrality but will not write a specific definition of the concept into the Constitution.
Last night Ministers were still considering the best approach to maximise the chance of success in the referendum planned for late October. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, is expected to put a memorandum to Government this morning outlining a number of options.
There was speculation last night that the favoured option would allow the referendum wording to refer to the declarations on neutrality published at the EU summit in Seville at the weekend. It is considered unlikely that it will go further and put some definition of neutrality into the Constitution.
If the Cabinet agrees a wording today Ministers hope to publish it at a press conference on Thursday to give maximum impetus to the Yes campaign. If the Referendum Bill is published before the Dáil goes into its summer recess at the end of the week, the Government will be able to set up the Referendum Commission which will run information campaigns on the issue.
The Dáil will be recalled for the first fortnight of September to debate the Referendum Bill, allowing for a poll to take place in mid or late October.
There has been intensive discussion between Ministers on a number of options for the rerun of the Nice treaty referendum, defeated a year ago.
These options include putting a definition of neutrality into the Constitution, putting the so-called "triple lock" on international military involvement into the Constitution, and including the Seville declarations or references to them in the Constitution.
Yesterday Mr Cowen appeared to rule out putting the "triple lock" on Irish military involvement overseas into the Constitution. The Government says this "triple lock" requires that any Irish military involvement in international missions overseas requires a UN mandate and the approval of the Government and the Oireachtas.
Mr Cowen said yesterday this was covered by existing legislation and he did not anticipate its being put into the Constitution.
Government sources said Ministers were reluctant to write neutrality into the Constitution, saying future governments could have their ability to conduct foreign policy curtailed by the right to appeal decisions to commit troops overseas to the Supreme Court.
It was also clear that Ministers are keen to give themselves the maximum flexibility to act as they see fit in years to come, without being constrained by constitutional requirements on neutrality.
The Green Party chairman, Mr John Gormley, accused the Government of being afraid to put neutrality into the Constitution. "The Government's failure to insert neutrality into the Constitution will expose them as complete fraudsters and expose the Seville Declaration as completely meaningless," he said.
He said a failure to insert neutrality into the Constitution would give the Government the worst possible start to its campaign. "The incompetence thus far of the Yes side is unbelievable," he said. "The No side has, on the other hand, behaved with restraint while concentrating on the facts."