The Minister for European Affairs, Mr Dick Roche, said today progress had been made in bridging divisions over the proposed European constitution despite ongoing objections from Spain and Poland to the latest compromise.
Mr Roche told the European Parliament in Strasbourg that there had been a noticeable "change in attitude" among certain member states.
He said the Irish government was continuing "high level" talks to try and reach agreement.
"We have a deeper appreciation of the concerns of all involved," he said.
"We also have a greater understanding of where scope for compromise might lie."
He said talks between the Taoiseach Mr Ahern and his two dozen counterparts over the past month found that there are a "reasonable number of outstanding issues."
Mr Roche said however "it would be relatively easy to find consensus" on the problems as part of a final deal.
Mr Ahern is to decide by a March 25th-26th EU leaders summit in Brussels whether compromise is still possible on a constitution before June, when Europeans head to the polls to elect a new European Parliament.
The 465 article constitution aims to streamline EU decision-making in a 25 member union and to bolster its standing abroad by creating the post of foreign minister, president and improving defence cooperation.
Ireland launched its first informal compromise offer to EU governments this week over how the EU makes decisions - the main issue causing the impasse.
Under the current draft, EU legislation will pass if at least half the EU nations approve and they represent at least 60 per cent of the population of the union.
The Government suggests the 50-60 per cent formula be replaced by a 55-55 per cent split. In that way the three biggest member states - Germany, France and Britain - cannot alone block decisions because they represent only about 44 per cent of the population.
Poland and Spain vehemently oppose any changes to the weighted vote system agreed to in 2000, which gives them a proportionally bigger voice than their smaller populations would warrant.
But informal soundings from Berlin welcoming the new proposal have raised hopes that a deal can still be reached.
Additional reporting PA
