Dublin  - The Irish parliament, or Dail, cleared its agenda Wednesday to continue debating last week's rejection in a referendum of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, national broadcaster RTE reported.

Prime Minister Brian Cowen said Tuesday during question time he would tell his European colleagues that the Irish people had spoken and the government accepted their verdict.

He added that "no decisions will be taken" at Thursday and Friday's EU summit.

Cowen said the treaty was "a work in progress" and the summit might "outline a process" to resolve the current impasse created by the Irish no vote, which was expected to dominate the summit agenda.

Ireland was the only EU member that held a popular vote to approve the treaty, as required by the country's constitution.

So far, 18 of the 27 EU parliaments have approved the treaty, with Britain's upper house due to vote later Wednesday. (dpa)