Efforts will be made in future years to prevent the Irish people from voting on major European Union treaties, the Sinn Féin President, Mr Gerry Adams has claimed.
Citing democracy as the key issue in the upcoming referendum, Mr Adams said; "It is about the decision of the Government to deliberately disregard the decision and re-run the same referendum."
Meanwhile, Mr Adams claimed that the Political and Security Committee set up to run the EU's 60,000-strong Rapid Reaction Force would be "entirely unaccountable" to member states.
Under the rules governing EU institutions, however, the Political and Security Committee will answer to the EU Council of Ministers on which Ireland will always have a permanent place, regardless of any other changes.
Asked how it therefore could be unaccountable, he seemed confused between the Council of Ministers and the European Commission. "Because we will not always be there," he said, in a reply to a question from The Irish Times.
The Government should have gone back to the rest of the EU and demanded changes: "Instead, we have been forced into a re-run. Would this have been run again if Germany, France or Britain voted "No"?
"Just watch. In five, or six years time, the Government will do away with the need for referenda," said Mr Adams, speaking at a Dublin press conference accompanied by Dublin South-West TD, Mr Seán Crowe and other Sinn Féin figures.
Rejecting the Government's oft-repeated assurances on neutrality, Mr Adams said the Seville Declaration is "too narrowly focused" and would not halt the EU's "ongoing militarisation".
The changes in the rules proposed by Nice would disadvantage smaller member states, particularly because of the loss of the veto in 30 areas: "All of this will seriously undermine the strength of our voice in the EU.
"We could quite easily be absorbed by bigger member states and could find ourselves being pulled away by the tail," he told journalists, before a canvass of the city centre.
The Government should have negotiated a number of vetoes that would have protected Irish interests, dealing with the number of Commissioners, a ban on Irish involvement in the Rapid Reaction Force (RRF) and so on.
Instead of developing the RRF, the EU should work to strengthen the United Nations. "The Irish contribution to the UN has been quite marked and commendable. The last thing we need is another power bloc." The Attorney General, Mr McDowell's assertion that a different question is being put to the Irish people lacks credibility, he said. "What the Government is doing is akin to Paudie O'Shea looking for the All-Ireland to be played a second time." During the campaign, Sinn Féin will distribute 250,000 leaflets.
