The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is to telephone the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Mr Claude Juncker, and the President of the European Commission, Mr Jacques Santer, to outline Ireland's concerns about funding cuts arising from the Agenda 2000 proposals published this week in Strasbourg.
An inter-departmental group of secretaries is to be established to put together, over the next few weeks, a strategy which will form the basis of Ireland's negotiating position on the issues.
A meeting of the "Ministers and Secretaries Group" in Dublin yesterday assessed the budget perspective for the 2000-2006 period, which harmonises enlargement with EU spending limits.
Government concerns at the impact of the Agenda 2000 proposals on Ireland's interests will be raised at the General Affairs Council meeting in Brussels next week.
The Taoiseach said on Wednesday that Ireland could not accept any sudden or sharp cutback in funding from Europe.
According to a spokesman, Mr Ahern will also ask Mr Juncker for his assessment of the special European Council on Unemployment to be held in the autumn.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General, Mr David Byrne SC, formally confirmed yesterday that a referendum will be required to ratify the Amsterdam Treaty.
A White Paper on the treaty is to be prepared in the autumn and will take into account the constraints of the McKenna judgment, which requires evenhandedness in presenting both sides of the argument to the public.