The Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, intervened last night to prevent a meeting of senior EU leaders from blaming the Government for the loss of the Nice Treaty referendum.
The Prime Ministers of Spain, Italy, Austria and Luxembourg were on course to approve a resolution yesterday afternoon condemning the Government for a "lack of political will" in its campaign for a Yes vote.
However, the meeting agreed to a request from Mr Noonan to drop the criticism of the Coalition.
Mr Noonan made the move to ensure he was not perceived at home as having encouraged criticism of Ireland abroad. "The battles at home are not carried to international conferences," he said later.
However, the pre-summit meeting of the European People's Party approved a resolution saying that in future referendum campaigns, "member governments should put aside adequate resources, as appropriate, and political energy" to ensure they are successful.
The deleted clause maintained "the referendum in Ireland on the Nice Treaty revealed widespread popular confusion and a lack of political will on the part of the Fianna Fail-led government to put a forceful and persuasive case for the treaty".
The Spanish Prime Minister, Mr Jose Maria Aznar, the Italian Premier, Mr Silvio Berlus
coni, the Austrian Chancellor, Dr Wolfgang Schussel and the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Mr Jean Claude Juncker, all spoke to the meeting, which declared that while Irish objections should be facilitated as much as possible, the enlargement process should not be delayed.
Both Mr Noonan and the Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, yesterday pre-empted the Taoiseach's report to the EU Summit today, telling most of the 15 European leaders here that the Government was at fault for the defeat of the Nice treaty referendum.
Mr Quinn addressed the Socialist group, attended by the Prime Ministers of Sweden, Holland, Denmark, Greece, Portugal, Finland and Norway, and the European Affairs Ministers of Britain and Germany. Both Mr Noonan and Mr Quinn said the early holding of the referendum was central to the treaty's defeat.
Mr Quinn said the referendum was held so quickly due to partisan electoral considerations. The Taoiseach, he claimed, wanted to keep the autumn free for a general election, and gave this consideration priority over the treaty.