The majority of Irish people will not want to block the enlargement of the EU at the end of 2002, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said last night.
Rejecting claims made by Green Party MEP, Ms Patricia McKenna, the Minister said he cannot stop the other 14 EU member-states from going ahead with the ratification of the treaty under their own laws.
"It is factually and legally impossible for me, or Bertie Ahern to seek to stop the ratification in these member-states.
"This treaty was signed in Nice in December. It is a matter for each state to proceed.
"I want to nail this canard immediately. I have no veto over the Spanish, the Portuguese, the French, or anybody else, from ratifying it," the Minister said on RTE's Questions & Answers.
Instead, he said, the treaty cannot come into force and will fall if the treaty is not ratified by all 15 member-states by the end of December 2002, the timetable laid down during the negotiations in Nice.
"If we get to the end of 2002 and the matter is not resolved satisfactorily - to everybody's satisfaction - then enlargement is blocked.
"I do not believe that is what the Irish people want. That would be a bad position," Mr Cowen said.
He said fellow EU foreign ministers were "disappointed" by the result, but they are prepared to assist Ireland to resolve its difficulties with the treaty short of renegotiation.
Ms McKenna said: "The people have spoken. You have a very good reputation for being staunch, yet you seem to have gone out today apologising for the result, rather than defending the position.
"You have basically being more concerned about our reputation in Europe in relation to keeping up appearances rather than defending the Irish position. "The Irish people have made it clear that they have rejected the treaty."
Asked what she wanted removed from it, she said Irish neutrality had to be protected, the proposed changes in the Commission's size and powers should be dropped, along with the enhanced co-operation rules.
Saying that she had been accused of being "xenophobic and racist" in the wake of the referendum, Connacht/Ulster MEP Ms Dana Rosemary Scallon criticised the attitude adopted by the Minister in Luxembourg.
Because of this, the Irish people will be told by the end of 2002 that they are the only ones blocking enlargement: "You should not have allowed that," she told Mr Cowen.
Earlier yesterday Ms McKenna called for the resignation of Mr Cowen. She said he had failed to represent the wishes of the Irish people at the EU meeting of foreign ministers.
Ms McKenna said the meeting had simply ignored the fact that Ireland had voted to reject the treaty, and Mr Cowen had "more or less conspired against the Irish people" to find a way around that rejection.
"It seems to me this is a major failure by such a prominent Minister not to represent strongly the wishes of the Irish people at this meeting.
"The Irish people have rejected this treaty, therefore ratification cannot go ahead," said Ms McKenna.