Former MEP Ms Dana Rosemary Scallon has insisted that she has not decided whether to contest the presidential election, and will wait until the President, Mrs McAleese, declares her intentions before deciding.
Ms Scallon's spokesman said it was "most certainly not the case" that she would not run in a presidential election if there was an Oireachtas debate on the draft EU constitutional treaty.
He was responding to a report in the Sunday Tribune which quoted Ms Scallon as saying she would be "happy to walk away" from such an election if there was a formal debate on a draft constitutional treaty that she regards as "deeply flawed".
Mrs McAleese is widely expected to announce in the first two weeks of September that she will seek a second term of office.
While saying that "seven years is long enough for anybody" to be in the presidency, Ms Scallon's spokesman said he did not know whether she would run for the office.
"I think it's quite clear that Dana is keeping her options open, and will announce her intentions after President McAleese," he said.
"The presidency doesn't belong to the political establishment. It doesn't belong to the political parties."