The Cabinet met this afternoon for the first time since the end of the summer break. The meeting comes as speculation mounts ahead of the Taoiseach's expected reshuffle this month.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Ahern was tight-lipped about speculation over the extent of his reshuffle.
"Four weeks today I'll announce it," he said. "Between now and then, I'll say no more about it."
He did concede, however, that the Government would need to act to counter the poor results it got in the recent local and European elections.
Today's meeting comes days after the first meeting of a Fianna Fáil group set up to modernise the party following its poor performance in the June European and local elections.
The group is expected to produce proposals to revitalise the party's structures ahead of a special meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, which takes place at the Inchydoney Hotel in Co Cork on September 6th and 7th. The Cabinet reshuffle is expected to dominate the agenda at this meeting.
Fianna Fáil's first preference vote fell to its lowest ever in a local government election and it was projected at the time that if these figures were repeated in a general election, the party would suffer the loss of around 20 Dáil seats.
At least two cabinet posts will need to be filled with the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, vacating his post to take up his new position in Brussels as European Commissioner; and the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, announcing his retirement.