Dublin, 25/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - European Commissioner David Byrne, speaking last Thursday in Dublin before the European Movement Ireland, said he hoped that a second referendum on the Treaty of Nice could be held in Ireland this autumn, after the "no" vote at the 2001 referendum. Thanks to the national Forum on the Future of Europe, which is currently seeking to shed some light on this debate, and to the declaration on neutrality announced for the Seville Summit, and to a democratic and objective debate, the Commissioner said he felt that the Irish people could now be asked to ratify the Treaty. He was highly critical of the "anti-Nice lobby" which he described as "intellectually dishonest". The declaration on neutrality to be made in Seville would be "powerful reaffirmation of what the existing legal position is, namely that no Member State is obliged to participate in the Rapid Reaction Force" that the EU is to set in place, stressed Mr Byrne. In his view, in the case of a second Irish "no", "our fourteen partners would quickly rally together and compe up with a Plan B. And, without Ireland".