European Union foreign ministers will today ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs to outline the reasons behind last week's rejection of the Nice Treaty.
However, Mr Cowen, who will be unable to offer anything other than an early examination of Thursday's results, will plead for more time before he offers a way out of the crisis.
Today's meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg takes place against a background of growing disquiet throughout Europe over the consequences of the Irish vote.
The Czech President, Mr Vaclav Havel, expressed the anxiety of many of the countries hoping to join the EU when he called on the 15 member-states to work hard to find a way forward. "If this referendum derails the process of European enlargement, it would be political suicide for Europe," he said.
The EU Commissioner responsible for enlargement, Mr Guenter Verheugen, said last night that enlargement would not be possible if Ireland could not find a way to ratify the treaty and said the Government should study the vote in detail to find out what in the treaty voters had rejected.
"Then we will see if we can find possibilities to take account of Irish doubts," he said.
Luxembourg's Prime Minister, Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, described the referendum result as a major problem which could not be resolved easily.
So far, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has made it clear to the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and his Swedish counterpart, Mr Goran Persson, that the Government cannot simply prepare for a second referendum. On Friday, he pointedly said: "I am conscious that the difficulty will not be easy to re solve. We need to take our time, however, to consider and consult and so the Government will not be coming to any hasty conclusions about the next steps."
The Government has considered a number of ideas, including seeking a special declaration to the Treaty of Nice which would exclude Ireland from any involvement with the Rapid Re action Force. In addition, one or two other minor declarations could be sought. "However, this cannot be done quickly. People here would simply go through the roof if that happened," a source said last night.
Tomorrow, Mr Ahern will hold the latest in a series of meetings with Fianna Fail ministers and ministers of state. However, his spokesman rejected charges that the Taoiseach was in search of "a scapegoat".
"There is an acceptance that the campaign failed. The Yes people made the mistake of trying to fight on the basis of what was actually in the treaty. People did not reject the treaty. They did not vote for it."
Ireland's EU Commissioner, Mr David Byrne, has indicated that the patience of EU partners and the Commission will survive for a time, as long as they are convinced that a referendum will happen. However, he has warned that Ireland's "power and influence" will be reduced sharply if doubts are created about the Government's future willingness to co-operate.
Yesterday, the Government refused even to consider questions about when the next referendum will take place, though the treaty must be ratified by all the 15 member-states before December 2002 for enlargement to go ahead.