Changes in Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution would be linked to the removal of the sovereignty clause in Britain's 1920 Government of Ireland Act, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said.
The Government was prepared to look at constitutional changes in the North-South dimension of talks and to be more flexible in the East-West dimension between Britain and Ireland, he said.
Mr Ahern was speaking to journalists as he arrived at Dublin Castle yesterday for the first session of the Forum For Peace and Reconciliation in almost two years. The forum last convened in February 1996, just before the Canary Wharf bomb in London marked the end of the IRA ceasefire.
"We are talking about the amendment or deletion of Section 75 of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 which explicitly states that the sovereignty of Northern Ireland is vested in Westminster without any reference to the principle of consent," he said.
Mr Ahern said if principles of consent were to be established as part of a balanced change to Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution, it followed that Section 75 must also be removed.
Asked about the interview he gave to the Financial Times, Mr Ahern said he was not saying anything new in that interview - "nothing I haven't said before".
The Taoiseach added that he was pleased by the agreement of all parties to the Stormont talks to go forward into smaller groups to address many of the outstanding issues.
Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, told reporters that the focus of concentration on Articles 2 and 3 completely missed the point. "The conflict in the North of Ireland occurred because of inequality, injustice and discrimination" he said.
Mr McGuinness paid tribute to Senator George Mitchell, who had succeeded in moving the talks process into a higher gear. However, the Sinn Fein negotiator said he did not believe that the unionists were ready yet to engage in meaningful discussions.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, said his party wanted to support any sound proposals for a referendum. They would be supportive in a "timely and effective" way.
"It is very important that we should prepare the public for the sort of compromises that will be necessary for a settlement in Northern Ireland," he said, before the Forum session began.
