The Government is fully committed to an enlarged and strong European Union with a substantial European social policy, the Taoiseach Mr Ahern said yesterday.
Mr Ahern said the EU was the "model for the regulation of economic globalisation" and that is "the key defence mechanism against any race to the bottom in terms of social standards".
"The EU can only be effective if we commit fully and wholeheartedly to it and make it work," he added and it can look forward to the "biggest cultural fusion" in it’s history, if the Nice Treaty is endorsed.
The Taoiseach did not reveal any date for the referendum despite increasing pressure on the Government from the EU to have a result for a full heads-of-state summit in Brussels on October 24-25th.
Earlier today the Minster for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowan indicated to RTE that the second Nice referendum would be held in October although he would not be drawn on a specific date.
He said setting the date was a Government matter.
Earlier today the EU commissioner in charge of the enlargement process Mr Guenter Verheugen, said that a second Irish rejection of the Nice Treaty could endanger the bloc's timetable for admitting new members. He called for a date to be set as soon as possible.
He said that he hoped the Irish government would set the date for the new vote before an EU summit set for late October.
"If there was a second No vote we have a problem as everyone knows, and we have to start to think how we can accomplish our objectives and whether we still have a chance to complete the negotiations in December," said Mr Verheugen.
"We need the Irish referendum, otherwise we don’t know how to resolve the institutional problems. It would be a very serious problem," he said.
The Irish people shocked EU leaders last June when they narrowly voted against ratifying the Nice Treaty, agreed the previous December to pave the way for the EU's enlargement to up to 10 new countries.