When the new Convention on the Future of Europe begins work in the spring, it will raise issues which clearly divide the Government and main Opposition parties.
The idea of serious domestic political disagreement over Europe would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. For many years, the voices of Irish governments were almost indistinguishable from each other on the European stage. We benefited economically from European Union Structural Funds and politically through broad international engagement. As a result, each government worked to position itself in the vanguard of the European movement, being seen as the most pro-EU member state.
But under this Government, a substantial shift has taken place in this perception of Ireland as the most communautaire of member-states. The perception that Ireland has moved to a more Eurosceptical position has been driven by a number of factors:
Domestic reluctance to be drawn into international military action has sat more and more uncomfortably with a union seeking to develop a military capability;
The substantial liberal free market element of the Government represented by Mary Harney, Charlie McCreevy and others has resisted any suggestion of importing the more social democratic European social model;
The growing influence of EU institutions and regulations in many areas of life without Oireachtas control has been strongly questioned by the Attorney General, Michael McDowell, and Minister for Arts and Culture, S∅le de Valera;
The rejection of the Nice Treaty, which followed the voicing of these political concerns over the past two years.
The two main Opposition parties now take a sharply different position on some of these issues than do several key figures in the Fianna Fβil/-Progressive Democrat coalition. While the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs have always adopted a more mainstream EU stance on many of these issues, others have set out different, more questioning positions.
On the issue of the European Social Model - the Boston-versus-Berlin debate - Labour has always been with Berlin, while the Fine Gael leader Michael Noonan made it clear he was, too, in his very first public speech after being elected party leader earlier this year.
However, while they have not stated it explicitly, Ms Harney, Ms de Valera, Mr McCreevy and others appear to be closer to Boston than many colleagues would be.
Both Fine Gael and Labour have identified themselves with the European model of higher social spending paid for by taxation. The Coalition has, in contrast, identified itself with low personal taxation and individual enterprise, although coupled with social spending as well.
Fine Gael and Labour are clear supporters of greater European integration, while the signals from the Government clearly suggest that it is not. Both main Opposition parties have chosen to highlight their differences with the Government over Europe.
The differences have come into focus as the new Convention on the Future of Europe prepares to begin work. The agenda includes many issues with which this Government is uncomfortable, and on which there are different political views in Ireland. The Laeken declaration listed questions to be considered by the convention. There are now, for the first time, few answers around which Ireland's mainstream parties will unite.
The answers Ireland ultimately gives will depend on who forms the Government after next year's general election.
The questions agreed at the weekend include, for example, whether there should be intensified co-operation on social inclusion. It asks whether the Charter of Fundamental Rights should be incorporated into the EU treaties - a move apparently opposed by the Government but strongly supported by Labour.
The Laeken declaration lauds "Europe as the continent of humane values", a phrase that could easily have been copied from any recent speech of Mr Noonan, but would be less likely to show up in a speech by, say, Ms Harney. It seeks to impose controls on globalisation and declares the EU is "a power seeking to set globalisation within a moral framework", which could suggest a greater level of regulation than many free marketeers would be comfortable with.
The agenda for the convention suggests more integrationist and federalist conclusions than this Government would like. The idea of a European constitution is on the agenda for discussion, something for which there is no Government support.
Mr McDowell has expressed reservations about such a development on national sovereignty grounds. Along with other lawyers who have come to the fore in the European debate, he is concerned that Irish citizens could seek the vindication of rights through appeal to bodies outside Ireland, without appropriate national control.
Others, including Ms Harney, may have reservations on the basis that such a constitution could be based on social democratic values rather than the liberal free market outlook favoured by her party.
The question of ending national vetoes in new areas - an issue the Taoiseach said on Saturday was, as far as he was concerned, closed for the next 20 years - is also explicitly on the agenda. It opens the prospect of tax harmonisation being debated once again, a move the Government, with its job-creating, low corporation tax regime, will resist.
The Belgian Prime Minister's confirmation that there will be "no taboos" opens the prospects of all sorts of other issues arising.
Mr Ahern said yesterday he hoped issues decided during the tortuous Nice Treaty negotiations would not be reopened for discussion.
He will receive support from other member-states for this view, but there are undoubtedly those who will wish to pursue such issues as tax harmonisation.
Also of concern to the Government is that keen enthusiasts for further integration will drive the convention's work and agenda.
Its president, former French president ValΘry Giscard d'Estaing, and vice-presidents, the former Belgian and Italian prime ministers, Jean Luc Dehaene and Giuliano Amato respectively, together with most members of the convention's praesidium, are supporters of further integration.
With Ireland's own Forum on Europe meeting regularly, the start of the convention will further draw attention to the decisions Ireland must make regarding its attitude to Europe.
For the first time, European policy may become an issue to which some attention is paid in a general election next year.
Mark Brennock is Political Correspondent of The Irish Times.