EU: Senior officials from all 25 EU member-states will meet at Croke Park on Monday to discuss the constitutional treaty for the first time since negotiations collapsed in Brussels last December.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said that foreign ministers would resume formal negotiations in an Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC) meeting on May 17th.
Next Monday's meeting will focus on relatively minor issues of concern to individual countries, many of which were close to resolution when December's summit collapsed. "We need to ensure that the level of consensus holds," Mr Cowen said.
The Irish presidency has divided the treaty's outstanding issues into a number of categories and Mr Cowen said the most difficult issues, concerning the reform of EU institutions and the extension of qualified majority voting, would be left until last.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, begins his tour of EU capitals next week and is expected to use bilateral meetings to seek to bind fellow leaders into compromise positions on the most contentious questions.
Presidency officials remain confident that a final text will be agreed at a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on June 17th.
Chances for progress improved with the March election of a new government in Spain. Poland, which enters the EU along with nine other newcomers this week, has also signalled a willingness to compromise.
European Commission president Romano Prodi today warned that a No vote in the UK's referendum on the constitution, announced last week, would leave Britain "alone" in the world.