The Government has rewritten its proposed wording for the EU treaty referendum excluding a controversial clause that would have allowed the State to sign up to a range of EU policy changes without a referendum.
Publishing the new text of the 28th Amendment of the Constitution, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said: "The proposed amendment would essentially maintain the broad approach of previous amendments to the Irish Constitution relating to previous EU Treaties."
The new clause, if passed by referendum, will not give the Government power to agree to many policy changes without consulting the people on the basis of Oireachtas approval.
However, when the original version of this text was published earlier this month it came in for criticism from Opposition parties, who claimed it was undemocratic.
Mr Ahern said that the wording of the new version had been subject to "very useful" consultations with Fine Gael and the Labour Party.
"The Government looks forward to working with them to secure the ratification of the European Constitution. We hope that other parties will also decide to support it."
The new wording: "Would also carry forward the prohibition on Irish participation in a common defence inserted by the second referendum on the Nice Treaty," said Mr Ahern, a move which removes the second most controversial aspect of the referendum.
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said that regardless of the result of the French referendum on the EU Constitution this weekend, Ireland will hold a referendum.
The Government is now expected to move to form a referendum commission which will be allocated a budget of €5 million to explain the issues involved.