Next Tuesday's meeting of the Cabinet will attempt to finalise revised wording for an amendment to the Constitution to allow a second referendum on the Nice Treaty later this year, write Denis Staunton and Mark Hennessy, in Seville.
The Government is now expediting plans for the second referendum, following agreement at the EU summit in Seville yesterday on two declarations aimed at removing public concerns or confusion about Irish neutrality, which contributed to the rejection of the treaty last year.
The Labour Party last night expressed confidence that the Government will consider taking on board its proposal, published last night, for a two-part amendment of the Constitution, one part dealing with the issue of neutrality, the other adopting the Nice Treaty.
Putting the issues in historic perspective, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern,writing in The Irish Times today, says that the EU is about to be transformed by its biggest ever enlargement, to include 25 countries and 480 million people.
"It would be tragic if, at this point in our history, Ireland were to choose to marginalise itself and obstruct the applicant countries from having the same opportunities that we had to develop and grow," he writes. "That is why the Government has made the ratification of the Nice Treaty its number one priority.
"The Seville declarations are a significant effort on our part, and on the part of our EU partners, to respond to some of the key concerns expressed in the course of the first referendum campaign."
The Seville declarations, agreed yesterday by the European Union, would "allay concerns" that the Nice Treaty threatened Irish neutrality, Mr Ahern said in Spain last night.
In its own declaration, the Government reaffirmed Ireland's policy of military neutrality and promised that any change would have to be approved by the people in a referendum.
An accompanying declaration agreed by all 15 EU leaders confirmed that Ireland's policy is in full accordance with the Nice Treaty and all previous EU treaties.
Speaking after the texts were agreed at the EU summit in Seville, the Taoiseach said that they confirmed in "clear and unambiguous language" that Nice "poses no threat" to Ireland's defence policy.
The Taoiseach confirmed that the Government had examined the need to change the wording of the Nice referendum question, as reported in yesterday's Irish Times.
The Cabinet should make a final decision on the wording on Tuesday, although there is uncertainty within the Cabinet and among senior officials over how to proceed.
Calling for a "Yes" vote on the Nice Treaty, Mr Ahern declared: "It isn't in our interests to block enlargement, or to be seen to block enlargement. And the net effect of a failure to ratify Nice would be to block it. I passionately believe that the European Union is vital to my country's future prosperity, and that this view is shared by the vast majority of people."
The original draft drawn up by Irish officials stated that EU treaties did not require Ireland, or any other member-state, to agree to participate in military operations. But the final declaration went further - to counter claims by the anti-Nice campaigners - in stating that the EU's initiative to provide military personnel for humanitarian and crisis-management tasks did not involve the establishment of a European army.
The leaders drew back from controversial proposals to impose sanctions on non-EU countries which refuse to help Europe's fight against illegal immigration.
But the summit is expected today to approve a package of measures, including better co-operation between border police and tougher actions against human-traffickers
A car bomb exploded last night in the car park of a department store in the northern Spanish city of Zaragoza. There were no injuries, police said.