The Government has moved sharply to reject the possibility that it could overcome a second rejection of the Nice Treaty by getting the Dáil to declare its full support for enlargement.
Describing such a course as "utter nonsense" in the Dáil yesterday, the Tánaiste and Progressive Democrats' leader, Ms Harney, said the Government was "bound by law" to put major issues to referendum, and to respect the result.
Responding to the Labour leader, Mr Quinn, the Tánaiste said: "It is blatant nonsense to suggest that the will of the people as expressed in a constitutional referendum can be set aside by a motion of this House."
Quoting the advice of the Attorney General, Mr Rory Brady, she said the Dáil would "not be competent" to pass such a declaration if the people say No on October 19th.
"A decision by the people in a referendum must be followed by the Dáil and Seanad. They are bound by the people's decision. We have no option in relation to the people's decision," she said.
Later, she said: "It is the Irish people who have sovereign authority on this issue and it is not for the Dáil to reinterpret in any way why the people voted in any given referendum. The Dáil would not be competent to pass such a declaration.
"The truth is that there is no Plan B if the Irish people decide to reject the Nice Treaty. It is the only agreed basis on which enlargement can proceed and, if rejected, the situation would be entirely unpredictable."
Responding to yesterday's Irish Times report that the EU would ask for a Dáil declaration in the event of a No outcome, she said the European Commission's latest review showed that 10 of the candidate countries are ready and able to take up membership of the EU.
"That decision is historic for the EU and I and most people here want to see those countries included as quickly as possible. I do not want the people to be misled by unsubstantiated statements by unnamed officials made over cups of coffee or wherever."
Denis Staunton adds:
The European Commission has insisted it has no contingency plan in the event of a No vote in next week's referendum. Mr Jonathan Faull, the Commission's chief spokesman, said yesterday the Commission would not seek a Dáil declaration backing EU enlargement.
"What the Dáil does or does not do is a matter for it. How the Irish Government goes about explaining the result to its partners in the European Council is a matter for it. It is not for us to ask anyone to do anything at this stage," he said.
The Irish Times reported that, in the event of a No vote, senior figures in Brussels want the Dáil to make a declaration backing the admission of 10 new member-states to the EU in 2004.
The purpose behind the proposal, which has been outlined in private by senior figures in the Commission, is to make clear that proceeding with enlargement would not flout the democratically expressed will of the Irish people.