The Government's report on Bloody Sunday is expected to be published in the new year, following the British government's response to it, the Taoiseach told the Dail.
Mr Ahern said many of the groups which had co-operated in compiling the report believed it should not be held back indefinitely.
"On the other side of it, I do not want to be putting undue pressure on, but I will publish it in the early months of 1998," he added.
Mr Ahern said he had directly raised the matter with the British government at a number of meetings in recent months.
Pressed further by the Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, to give a timetable for the publication of the report, the Taoiseach said he had an understanding with the British government that it would not unduly delay, and he believed that January would be the deadline for the publication of the report.
"I know there are some aspects of the report with which the British government, in fairness to them, have had an amount of difficulty, so I think it was reasonable to give them that time," he added.
He said he would discuss the matter with the British Prime Minister at the European summit next weekend and he would rather hold back its publication until the British government had made its position clear, providing it did not unduly delay.
Replying to the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, the Taoiseach said he was expecting a clear and detailed reply to the Government's report, and he would also expect to hear what the British government intended to do, taking account of all aspects of the case.
"They know that we believe that the Widgery report is fundamentally flawed and that the correct decision is to have a new inquiry," he said.
"It is a matter of whether they will answer in the positive or the negative to that."
The Democratic Left leader, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, said that, in the interests of good relations between Ireland and Britain, the report should be published by agreement.
"Obviously, we would like to see that take place in the context of an announcement by the British government that it intends to have a serious inquiry into the events of that day, headed up by an international person of repute," he added.