The Government is expected to publish the proposed wording for a Nice Treaty referendum later today after the Taoiseach's appearance at the Forum on Europe and the launch of a committee to scrutinise EU legislation.
Mr Ahern will personally advocate support for the Nice Treaty at the Forum meeting in Dublin Castle today. Meanwhile, the Oireachtas European Affairs committee will be set up this morning.
The committee, one of the first Oireachtas committees to be set up since the election, is expected to be given extra powers by legislation in the autumn to demand documentation from Government departments on EU affairs. It is also intended that the committee will scrutinise EU legislation before the European Council approves it.
The move is designed to counter criticism that there is a serious "democratic deficit" in relation to European legislation which often takes effect in Ireland without being scrutinised by the Oireachtas.
It is intended that the committee will examine proposed EU legislation before it is finalised, and make recommendations to the Government as to what stance it should take.
Last night the Government said it still had not decided when today the referendum wording would be announced. While the Taoiseach will be tied up at the Forum on Europe this morning, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, will take parliamentary questions this afternoon. Government spokesmen indicated the uncertainty was due only to the need to find a time suitable to both men.
The Cabinet agreed on Tuesday what approach it would take in the referendum campaign, but a Government spokeswoman said the exact wording of the proposal to be put to the people was still being finalised by the parliamentary draftsman.
The wording is not expected to put the concept of neutrality into the Constitution, a safeguard demanded by Labour, the Green Party and Sinn Féin. Instead, the Government was believed to be seeking other means of reassuring voters on the neutrality issue.
It is still not clear whether this can be done through including some statement about Irish neutrality in the question to be put to the people.
The Nice Treaty, rejected by referendum in Ireland in June 2001, must be ratified in all 15 EU member-states by the end of this year, or else it falls.
The second referendum here is now expected in the second half of October.