The Government is in talks with other European Union member states about retaining an Irish commissioner, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin confirmed this morning.
The announcement comes as a new poll in today's Irish Timesshows that a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty has a chance of being carried.
The poll shows that more people would be likely to vote Yes if the treaty was modified to allow Ireland to retain an EU Commissioner and other Irish concerns on neutrality, abortion and taxation were clarified.
The Lisbon Treaty was defeated in June when 53.4 per cent of people voted against it in a referendum and 46.6 per cent voted in favour. According to the latest poll, 43 per cent of the public say they would now vote Yes if Irish concerns were addressed, while 39 per cent would vote No and 18 per cent have no opinion.
Speaking after the poll results were published today, Mr Martin said on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, that the Government had held a number of discussions about ways to address the treaty defeat.
The Minister said the Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll results confirm the Government's research findings.
Reiterating that there was no appetite for a fundamental renegotiation of the Lisbon Treaty among fellow EU members, Mr Martin said: "We've had a number of discussions over the last couple of weeks, and those discussions are ongoing and have intensified in recent times."
The Minister announced last night the Government would decide in the coming weeks whether or not to hold a second referendum. The Government is due to update fellow member states on possible solutions at the next European Summit which takes place in Brussels on December 11th and 12th.
Mr Martin said today that discussions on other areas - such as neutrality, abortion, taxation and retaining a commissioner - were taking place.
"Before we make any decision as to what particular option we might take I think it is important that all of these issues are dealt with in the context of the discussions with our European colleagues," he said.
"Because if you recall when other countries had similar situations like our own, going back to the Danes in the early 90s and the French and the Dutch, other European member states and the commission engaged with those respective countries and managed to come up with solutions to their particular concerns.”
“We're in the same process here. People have raised concerns on all of these issues and I think it is our obligation to see if we can find ways of satisfying the concerns of people and reconciling them through getting assurances," he said.
Speaking about retaining an Irish commissioner, Mr Martin said he believed that people had equated the loss of a commissioner with a loss of influence.
"Clearly the issue of a commissioner almost signified what people perceived to be a loss of influence at the table, despite the fact that one has ministers at the table and civil servants at the table at different levels. So therefore we are in discussions on that specific issue.
"It's not a simple issue and is not one that can easily be wished away or dealt with, but nonetheless we're in discussions on it because I think it was a significant issue and encapsulates as it does the whole idea of people being at the table with additional influence being bought to bear collectively," he said.
The Minister said finding solutions to the Lisbon Treaty referendum defeat was something that affected everyone.
"I genuinely think we're at a crossroads in terms of our membership of the European Union, and the reason we set up the Oireachtas committee was to really indicate that all of us are involved here . . . it's not just the Government, it's a societal issue," he said.
Anti-Lisbon Treaty think-tank Libertas dismissed the latest poll findings with its chairman Declan Ganley claiming there is no appetite for a re-run of the referendum even if the controversial charter is changed to allay concerns on issues such as tax and neutrality.
“I am confident that the Irish people would reject Lisbon again should the Irish Government be so spineless as to allow themselves to be bullied into asking us a second time,” said Mr Ganley.
Libertas insisted that if the treaty text is tinkered with, the resulting "Frankenstein version of Lisbon" would not win majority support from voters.
"We believe that in any referendum, here or abroad, our message of democracy, accountability, transparency, and a prosperous, strong Europe, will trump the scaremongering and personal attacks of a vociferous minority who continue to hold democracy in contempt,” added Mr Ganley.
Sinn Féin claimed the Government was ignoring the will of the people "in an effort to ensure an easy life with its European peers".
“The Government needs to go to December’s summit with the firm intent of negotiating a better deal that includes a social progress clause for workers, strengthening of key vetoes on public services, taxation and international trade, the removal of all self amending clauses including Article 48, secure vetoes on all aspects of common foreign and defence policies, and the retention of Ireland’s permanent Commissioner," said Sinn Féin's Lisbon dampaign director Pádraig Mac Lochlainn.
"Obtaining declarations on a small number of issues that the Government alone perceives as central to the No vote will not be enough," he added.
Chair of the anti-Lisbon campaign group the People’s Movement, Patricia McKenna, said declarations on tax, abortion and neutrality were “a devious ploy designed to dupe Irish voters into believing that our Government have somehow obtained concessions from other EU States on the Lisbon Treaty”.
She said “nothing could be further from the truth”.
“Declarations, unlike protocols are not a legal part of a treaty and thus holding a second referendum on Lisbon will in legal terms mean voting on the exact same treaty rejected by the voters in June.”
Additional reporting: PA
