The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said yesterday he believed the publication of opinion polls should be banned for the last 10 days of an election campaign.
However, the Cabinet will only receive legal advice on possible constitutional implications of such a move this morning from the Attorney General, Mr Michael McDowell, at its weekly meeting.
Last Wednesday the Government said it would accept a Fine Gael proposal on the matter. The Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Robert Molloy, revealed the decision during the Committee Stage hearing of the Electoral Amendment Bill.
Mr Ahern said yesterday the matter had been under debate for the past decade. There had been constitutional implications when Fianna Fail had, in 1993, attempted to impose a ban for the entire campaign, similar to the system in France.
"I don't think that is very realistic. You would have people taking polls and then leaking them, and there would be reports of the leak and nobody would know whether they were factual or not. But I do think the last week, which effectively is probably about 10 days."
The Government said it would accept the Fine Gael proposal on Thursday, the day after an MRBI/TG4 on the Tipperary South by-election poll was published. Senior Fianna Fail figures complained it had badly damaged the chances of their candidate, Mr Michael Maguire.
An amendment to the Bill is to be brought forward on Thursday before the Dail for Report Stage. It is understood that it will cover both broadcast and print media.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party's position on the plan is unclear. The party's environment spokesman, Mr Eamon Gilmore, supported the ban last Wednesday. However, the party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, opposed the idea when he spoke after the by-election result on Sunday. A party spokesman said yesterday Mr Quinn had not realised Mr Gilmore had given the proposal his support when he made his remarks.
Speaking about the poll yesterday, Mr Ahern said it had been "quite devastating" on the Fianna Fail campaign team. The poll had been "quite inaccurate when you look at it, it was 3 and 4 per cent here, there and everywhere".
The Fine Gael TD Ms Olivia Mitchell said she had been amazed last week when Mr Molloy had indicated the Government would accept the amendment. "Opinion polls can provide valuable and accurate information about voter preferences and judgments on issues which arise between and even during elections.
"However, there is a point in the process of an election when the publishing of an opinion poll stops being merely informative and becomes manipulative and can unduly influence the outcome of an election or a referendum," she said.