A Dáil resolution endorsing enlargement would be "unconstitutional" if Ireland rejected the Nice treaty a second time, Fine Gael's director of elections, Mr John Bruton, has said.
"It is not constitutionally possible for a resolution of the Dáil to overturn, or even to reinterpret a decision of the people in a referendum. This is because our Constitution makes the people supreme over the Dáil, and not the other way around."
Mr Bruton was responding to this week's Irish Times report that EU officials were considering to request such a resolution from the Dáil if the referendum was defeated.
If this occurred, he said, "the Supreme Court would find that the Dáil was attempting to exceed its powers if it attempted to pass a resolution interpreting a rejection of Nice by the Irish people as being a rejection of one part of Nice, but not of another part of Nice.
"I believe that the people in Brussels who are anonymously canvassing these options with Irish journalists are unfamiliar with the Irish Constitution."
Mr Bruton added: "Some people are still claiming that, if Ireland votes No to the Nice Treaty, we can still proceed with enlargement as if nothing had happened. This is simply untrue. While it might be possible for other European Union countries to incorporate the changes in existing treaties now in the Nice Treaty in the accession treaties, it would not be possible for Ireland to do so."
The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation has written to its members urging a Yes vote.
