TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has spoken to key EU leaders in recent days in an effort to get an agreement that will allow the second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty to be held in late September or early October.
Mr Cowen spoke by phone to German chancellor Angela Merkel, and Czech prime minister Jan Fischer during the consultations on the legal guarantees being sought by Ireland before a second referendum can be held.
Mr Cowen and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin are engaging in intensive consultations in advance of the EU summit in Brussels later this week at which a decision on the wording and status of the guarantees will be made.
Mr Cowen is expected to talk to British prime minister Gordon Brown before the summit begins on Thursday in an effort to reassure him about the detail and the implications of the Irish guarantees. The Taoiseach has also briefed Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore and will meet Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny before travelling to Brussels.
The Government is hoping to hold the referendum in the last week of September or the first week of October. The legislation to enable the referendum to take place is expected to be passed by the Dáil before it adjourns for the summer recess in early July.
The referendum will only go ahead if all other 26 countries agree to the legal guarantees for Ireland covering the issues of abortion, neutrality, tax and workers rights.
Some other EU countries have concerns about the wording of the guarantees but the main concern relates to the legal mechanism that will give them effect.
EU foreign ministers will discuss the legal guarantees at an EU foreign ministers’ meeting today in Luxembourg. The issue was taken off the agenda of the meeting last week but ministers from several EU states are expected to raise the issue.
“We haven’t seen a draft text yet from the Irish so obviously there is some nervousness around,” said an EU diplomat.
The Government wants its 26 EU partners to provide legal guarantees to Ireland in the areas of taxation, neutrality, abortion, family life and education. It also wants member states to agree to a text outlining the high importance the union attaches to the issue of workers rights and the maintenance of public services, which is a controversial issue at EU level due to differences of opinion between member states.
Irish officials are hopeful that the guarantees can be signed off at ambassador level tomorrow before EU heads of state meet on Thursday and Friday.