The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, last night strongly defended the establishment of the European Union's military capabilities.
"I am happy with what happened," he told journalists of the summit's decision to develop the capacity to deploy up to 60,000 troops to intervene in crisis situations.
"I have no fears whatsoever," he added, insisting that Ireland's concerns about the proposals had been met in the agreed text and that the European Security Identity was purely about peacekeeping and humanitarian tasks.
Stressing the central role of the UN mandate, he said he had reiterated at the meeting the voluntary dimension of the policy but "it is important that at the highest level the EU support the UN".
Asked about Ireland's role in future missions, he said: "If it has a UN mandate we will look at it. If not I don't see us involved."
The leaders agreed that by 2003 the EU would be able to pull together rapidly and deploy at 60 days' notice a multinational force of up to 60,000 to intervene in crisis situations in which NATO does not want to become involved.
It will be self-sustaining for up to a year.
A political and security committee of senior national officials will be established in Brussels to co-ordinate military operations and planning, as well as a military committee made up of chiefs of staff drawn from member-states.
The summit also endorsed a paper on the non-military civil aspects of crisis management, specifically working to identify in advance personnel, such as police and humanitarian workers, who can be deployed rapidly in the event of a crisis.
But one issue over which neutrals and the majority will draw a discreet veil is the insistence by the latter that they will not be tied in the summit declaration to a mandatory requirement for UN authorisation for military action.
Ireland and the militarily non-aligned have made clear, as the Taoiseach pointed out, that they will not participate in non-UN-mandated operations.
The NATO powers, on the other hand, insist that their experience of Security Council decision-making gridlock means that such a requirement, however desirable, could actually encourage aggression by tyrants who know that the international community is unable to respond.
The presidency report to the summit thus refers only to "the action by the Union being conducted in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter and the principles and objectives of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe Charter for European Security".
And it recognises the "primary responsibility" of the UN Security Council "for the maintenance of international peace and security".
The final summit text will reproduce these formulations.
The summit did not discuss the potentially difficult issue of how to involve non-EU NATO members like Turkey and Norway in EU-organised operations. The decision to establish a permanent political and security committee in Brussels was deplored by the Green MEP for Dublin, Ms Patricia McKenna, who described the move as unaccountable and a threat to the status of neutral countries.
