SPECULATION ABOUT a second referendum on Lisbon or alternative moves to deal with the issue by legislation was rejected as premature by a Government spokesman yesterday.
"Nothing whatsoever has been decided," he said, in a detailed response to the controversy arising from remarks by Minister of State for European Affairs Dick Roche that he personally believed a second referendum would ultimately be required.
"After Lisbon, the Taoiseach outlined a series of steps to analyse the result. The Department of Foreign Affairs was tasked with commissioning a comprehensive nationwide survey.
"The findings of that will feed into a public political debate," the Government spokesman told The Irish Times.
"The Minister for Foreign Affairs has been tasked with engaging with his European counterparts on the matter. The Taoiseach is due to report progress in the analysis to the European Council in October, but it's not going to be a road-map.
"Nothing whatsoever has been decided vis-a-vis the next step, because we're only in the process of analysis at this stage.
"People who are saying 'another referendum or legislation', they are all jumping ahead to an outcome, and the Government isn't anywhere near that.
"The important thing for the Taoiseach is to find a way of ensuring that Ireland stays at the heart of Europe," the spokesman concluded.
Commenting on the Opposition response to his remarks, Mr Roche said: "The Government has made it clear that no option has been ruled in or out. We cannot exclude that at some stage and in the right circumstances it may be necessary to consult the people once again.
"That is decidedly not saying, 'you put the Lisbon Treaty as is before the people'.
"What I did say, and it is a matter of record, was that we have to deal with all the issues that have arisen, in detail, step by step, and should not jump to any conclusions or exclude any options," he said.
The results of the Department of Foreign Affairs survey are expected to be made public in mid-September.
Meanwhile, Mr Roche's initial comments at the Humbert Summer School over the weekend were described as "unwise and unhelpful" by Labour deputy leader Joan Burton.
"There can be no question of simply putting the same proposition to the people once again," she said.
Fine Gael spokeswoman on European Affairs Lucinda Creighton said Mr Roche's comments "show that the Government has learned nothing from its disastrous referendum campaign. Another referendum on Lisbon, without any response to the concerns of th e Irish people, would be rejected".
Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald said: "Minister Roche's comments are yet another example of a Government without a plan to tackle the political reality that the Lisbon Treaty is finished."
The chair of the People's Movement and former Green MEP Patricia McKenna said: "While the Government claims it will make no decision on this matter until after its detailed analysis of the referendum defeat has been completed and considered, it is clear that it intends using the findings of this research to present to the public with the same rejected treaty dressed up as something new."
Ms McKenna was criticised by Green Party spokeswoman on European Affairs, Senator Deirdre de Burca, who said: "I expected that she would be an enthusiastic contributor to the [Green] party's future debates on Lisbon."
"I believe this would be a better way to influence the party's thinking than issuing press releases for external organisations." Libertas executive director Naoise Nunn said: "I think it is very, very clear that the people have said No and the Irish Government needs to stand up to its European counterparts."