Mr Dick Spring's two most senior advisers during his time in government have come out against the Nice Treaty, although the former Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs is urging a Yes vote.
Mr Spring's one-time press spokesman and adviser, Mr Fergus Finlay, has warned that each EU treaty has moved the Union away from the principles of equality, transparency and accountability.
He joins Mr Spring's friend, former Attorney General Mr John Rogers, who wrote in this newspaper two weeks ago that democracy in Ireland would suffer if Nice was approved.
Mr Spring, who played a key role in negotiating the Amsterdam Treaty, declined to comment yesterday on the views of his former advisers. However, in response to a request for comment, his office faxed this newspaper a copy of a statement he issued last week to the press in Kerry calling for a Yes vote.
Mr Finlay in an article in the Irish Examiner and on RTE radio yesterday argued that the each EU treaty has moved it away from the principles of equality, transparency and accountability.
Ratifying Nice, he wrote, would involve "a decisive step away from a Europe of equal members, and towards a more efficient but less democratic entity."
Mr Rogers argued there was a significant risk "that there will emerge more and more decisions from the institutions of the Union in which the citizens of this State will have had little or no influence". He said the Oireachtas had been sidelined in relation to EU legislation.
"I don't think that the Irish electorate should be blackmailed into voting for this treaty on the basis that to do otherwise is to offend and disappoint those states expecting accession," he said.
Mr Spring's statement argued strongly for support for the treaty on the basis that it would help the states seeking accession. The Nice Treaty "is good for the applicant countries of the East who deserve our support".