The Green Party MEP Ms Patricia McKenna has said she welcomed comments on the referendum vote made by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy.
"Unlike his party leader, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Mr McCreevy has shown himself to be a true democrat, capable of accepting the democratic decision of the voters," Ms McKenna said yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Fine Gael leader Mr Michael Noonan, has described as "bizarre and reckless" remarks made by the Minister for Finance on the Nice Treaty. "When everything was so sensitive the Minister for Finance comes out with this extraordinary statement. It looked like old Fianna Fail," Mr Noonan said on RTE's This Week programme.
The Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said serious questions must be asked about the Government's ability to be represent us coherently in the EU.
"The Government has no European policy and is dangerously divided. They are beginning to resemble the UK Conservative Party under John Major, where divisions over Europe effectively destroyed the Government," said Mr Quinn.
He said the position on the Nice Treaty was clear. "It will fall at the end of next year unless the Irish people change their opinion, and enlargement will be delayed regardless of what is said in Europe."
But if we were now to be "dragged into an issue" as to our attitude to the EU at a much broader level, as some senior Ministers seemed to want, then perhaps we needed to address the issue sooner.
The secretary general of the European Commission, Mr David O'Sullivan, said it was now up to the Irish people and Government to explain exactly what the No vote meant.
They needed to explain exactly the circumstances in which they might be willing to revisit the decision "or whether they wish to record it as the definitive view of the Irish people on the Nice Treaty".
Mr O'Sullivan, Ireland's most senior EU official, who is chief adviser to Commission President Mr Romano Prodi, said the ratification of the treaty required the assent of all 15 member states.
"People in Ireland need to be conscious that taking that definitive step, announcing that Ireland will not ratify the Treaty will have serious consequences for the process of enlargement, for Ireland's position within Europe, and therefore this would have to be done after very, very deep consideration."
He said there was a certain cynical interpretation of the Irish vote which said: "Ah, now that the Irish are no longer getting the money, they're losing interest in the project. Many of us have been trying to explain this is not the case, but the coincidence was very unfortunate."