(DUBLIN) - Ireland has sought advice from Denmark on how Dublin could opt-out of key parts of the EU Lisbon Treaty, as a way of unblocking the Irish-triggered limbo, a report said Thursday.

Ireland sent shockwaves through the European Union in June when 53 percent of Irish voters rejected the key reform treaty, in the only popular vote on the text within the 27-nation bloc.

The Irish Times reported that the government was actively considering opt-outs from certain aspects of EU co-operation as a possible way of resolving the impasse created by the outcome of the June referendum.

Officials from the foreign ministry and the attorney general's office visited Copenhagen to discuss the technical legal provisions of the Danish agreement from 1993, the newspaper reported.

In 1992 the Danish government responded to the rejection of the Maastricht Treaty by its electorate by coming up with a proposal to opt out of four key areas of EU activity.

A second Danish referendum in 1993 approved the treaty in tandem with the proposal to opt out of the euro currency as well as defence, justice and common EU citizenship arrangements established under the treaty.

"If Ireland proceeds down the road of seeking opt-outs from the (Lisbon) treaty on issues like defence and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which provoked such controversy during the referendum campaign, the approval of all 26 EU partners would be required," the newspaper said.

A government spokesman refused to comment on the report.

The Irish government is due to receive next month a specially commissioned analysis of why people voted "No" for the treaty.

Prime Minister Brian Cowen is also due to travel to Paris for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy -- whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency -- on how to resolve the bloc's institutional crisis.

EU leaders are set to discuss the Irish rejection again at an October summit in an effort to overcome the impasse ahead of elections next year to the European Parliament.

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