The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Brian Cowen, has arrived in Naples, Italy, for EU talks designed to break the deadlock over the draft constitution for the EU.
The meeting is being held in advance of next month's summit amid fears the smaller countries in the EU might not be persuaded that the constitutional treaty is in their interest.
Mr Cowen arrived this morning along with foreign ministers from the other 14 EU countries. The meeting is scheduled to conclude tomorrow afternoon.
Italy, which holds the EU presidency, has proposed amendments that would allow countries such as Ireland to refer to EU leaders issues that impinge fundamentally on their legal system.
Some of the changes seek to address key Irish concerns, such as the effect of greater harmonisation of criminal law on Ireland's common law tradition, and conditions for closer co-operation on defence matters.
Under the proposed amendments, countries with a common law system could apply an "emergency brake" to any legislation concerned with harmonising rules of criminal procedure or minimum penalties.
This means Ireland could demand that any such measure should be referred to EU leaders, who decide unanimously rather than by qualified majority.
Government officials were last night studying the proposals but there is no indication yet as to whether Ireland, or any of the other smaller EU states, will be appeased by proposals.
Next month's summit is due to take place between December 12th and 13th.