British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Ireland can not be bulldozed into accepting the Lisbon Treaty.
Speaking after a working lunch with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin in Dublin, Mr Miliband said the Irish vote was one that deserved respect.
"I think it's right to say that I have never fallen into the trap of describing the result of the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty as a problem."
"It's not. It's a decision by the Irish people that deserves full respect and right from the beginning I've said there's no question of bulldozing or bullying the Irish people.
Mr Miliband praised Mr Martin for the establishment of a parliamentary committee, that will explore Ireland's position in Europe as a mature step towards understanding the reasons for the referendum result.
"The establishment of an Oireachtas committee can now begin a national debate and a new phase of national consultation, not just on Lisbon but of course on Ireland and Europe and the future of Ireland in Europe," he said.
"I think your decision to establish a committee that looks at Ireland's role in the European Union and your vision for the European Union's future is going to pay dividends."
Mr Martin thanked Mr Miliband for his "strong support" for Ireland within the EU following the Lisbon Treaty referendum. He said he briefed Mr Miliband on the findings of yesterday's report into the reasons why the Treaty was rejected. He said Irish relations with Britain had "never been better."
"Relations between our two countries have never been better and I think the co-operation; politically, economically, socially and culturally, owes much to the close contact between our two governments over the past 11 years of working together, building peace and bringing devolution to the North of Ireland," Mr Martin said.
"It would be remiss of me not to pay tribute in this context to Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, and the very close relationship they enjoyed."
Mr Martin said because the North required less day to day attention from both governments, they had the opportunity to discuss other issues such as the Lisbon Treaty, climate change, Georgia and Zimbabwe.