Minister for State at the Department of Agriculture Mr Éamon Ó Cuív will not be disciplined for his No vote in the Nice Treaty referendum despite calls from the Opposition for the Taoiseach to take stern action against him.
Mr Ó Cuív said he voted no in last Thursday's referendum despite having publicly supported the treaty in the run-up to it.
Speaking on RTÉ radio this morning the Taoiseach Mr Ahern said he had held a lengthy conversation with Mr Ó Cuív and had decided not to discipline him.
He said Mr Ó Cuív had been "nothing but helpful" leading up to last week's vote and insisted "he does support Government policy".
But Mr Ahern also said the Minister's decision "as a politician" to make his private ballot public, particularly when it was generally assumed he would vote a certain way, was "slightly unusual".
The Tánaiste Ms Harney has also expressed some surprise at Mr Ó Cuív's revelation and said it would be difficult for a minister to remain in government when he fundamentally disagreed with Government policy.
But a spokesman for the Taoiseach told ireland.comthis evening Mr Ó Cuív's position as a Minister of State was secure.
Mr Ó Cuív, who spoke on RTÉ radio this morning defended his vote and explained he had been unable to express his concerns about the treaty before the ballot as he would have had to resign his Ministry.
But he said that as a Minister he did not have a responsibility to vote in any particular way.
Meanwhile Fine Gael's director of elections Mr Jim O'Keeffe has criticised the Government's complacency leading up to the referendum and blamed the defeat of the treaty on the "conflicting and confusing messages" some Ministers had sent to the electorate.