The President of the European Commission Mr Romano Prodi will today visit the Ring of Kerry with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern.
The sightseeing trip comes at the end of Mr Prodi’s controversial visit to Ireland in which the EC President admitted the need for a "new way of doing things in Europe".
Mr Prodi has also used his visit to Ireland to express his mixed feelings about the Irish electorate’s rejection of the Treaty of Nice.
Speaking at Cork's University College last night, he again that the Treaty was a "political condition for enlargement".Earlier yesterday Mr Prodi had extensive talks with many of the anti-Treaty groups.
He declared: "I fully respect the democratically expressed will of the Irish people - but it is hard for me to understand exactly why they voted as they did."
He also denied that any measures envisaged in the Nice Treaty would reduce the role of smaller member states like Ireland and insisted the EU Rapid Reaction Force would not be a de facto EU army.
"It is designed to restore peace and order in conflict situations, and Irish troops assigned to it will remain Irish troops.
``The deployment of Irish troops will be the result of sovereign decisions taken on a case-by-case basis here in Ireland," echoing the message of the Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Cowen throughout the Referendum campaign.
Earlier, Mr Prodi made it clear that if a second Irish referendum on Nice also rejected the Treaty, then it would, as opponents currently claim be "dead".
PA