The European constitution, which has already been rejected by French and Dutch voters, will not be put to a referendum in the State before the next Dáil election, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has finally acknowledged.
"I do not believe this issue will come up before the French presidential election so I do not see it arising in the lifetime of this Dáil," said Mr Ahern in reply to Opposition questions.
The Austrian EU presidency, which runs for the first six months of next year, will produce a report outlining the options available to the leaders of the member states next June.
Urging "extensive debate" over the next six months, the Taoiseach said he did not believe the Dutch and French governments, which face elections next year and in 2007, had the appetite to put the issue to voters again.
"I do not believe the French or the Dutch will make announcements on this in the short term. The Dutch are very adamant that they will not return to this in the lifetime of their current government. No one has contradicted that," he said.
He said the French government's desire for a second treaty referendum, which was agreed during the Irish presidency in 2004, will have been lessened further by the recent riots. "They have other debates with which to contend."
Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain have ratified the treaty, some by referendum and some by parliamentary votes.
Responding to questions from the leader of the Green Party, Trevor Sargent, and Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins, Mr Ahern said he believed that all but "five or six" countries will have ratified the treaty by next year.
Later, Mr Ahern told the leader of Fine Gael, Enda Kenny, that the National Forum on Europe, set up after the first Nice Treaty referendum was defeated, will continue in existence.
