The Taoiseach's surprise appearance at the Polish Prime Minister's press conference on Saturday was the climax of an intensive campaign here to assure applicant members that Ireland supports EU enlargement.
Mr Ahern, who accepted a last-minute invitation from his Polish counterpart, Mr Jerzy Buzek, to address the Polish press, said: "I do not want people in the applicant countries to take the view that we are in any way against enlargement. That is not the issue."
The Polish press briefing room quickly filled with journalists from Poland and some other accession states after Mr Ahern made his unscheduled entrance. Mr Buzek said he had invited the Taoiseach because "the Polish people are most interested in what happened in Ireland".
Poland saw Ireland as a country that had had great progress and success after joining the EU. So they wanted to know "the reason why it was such a bad result from our point of view".
Mr Ahern's comments echoed the speech he made to a lunch on Saturday, attended by the leaders of the applicant member states. He said the people on the Yes and No sides had no difficulty with enlargement. "The campaign did not focus on enlargement at all but on NATO, neutrality, sovereignty issues and domestic issues."
There had been a lot of confusion caused by the well-publicised speeches by Mr Romano Prodi, Mr Lionel Jospin and others concerning the future of Europe after Nice. Now he said Ireland would have to deal with the issues that had arisen in the campaign, but there was no question of attempting to change the treaty.
However, the Czech Prime Minister, Mr Milos Zeman, said Ireland had voted against enlargement, and should hold another referendum after running a better information campaign than last time.
"I am very sad that my friends from Ireland have in fact opposed enlargement. Even if they visit good beer taverns in Prague and drink good Czech or Irish beer, they are against the membership of the Czech Rep ublic in the European Union. This is the real result of your non-exciting referendum."
He said he hoped there would be another referendum "with a higher turnout and a better explanation campaign. I see it as a traffic accident, not a disaster."
The Czech Foreign Minister, Mr Jan Kavan, said he believed there would be a repeat referendum which would vote Yes. He said he had been given assurances by the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs "that the Government would put much more effort into an explanatory campaign" next time.
Slovenia's Minister for European Affairs, Mr Igor Bavcar, said that having spoken with Mr Ahern and Mr Cowen, "It is obvious that you intend to have another referendum soon. I'm sure the situation after another referendum will be quite different. It is obvious the Irish people did not vote against enlargement."
Latvia's Prime Minister, Mr Andria Berzins, said Mr Ahern had assured him "that the Irish No in the referendum did not mean no for enlargement, and we trust him." However, he said the result also showed that smaller states could still have an influence in Ireland. A recent opinion poll in Latvia showed support for EU membership falling, he said, and the Irish referendum result may have influenced this change.
The Prime Minister of Estonia, Mr Mart Laar, said that Ireland "is sending a message to all the people of Europe, including the applicant countries that we must talk to the people and explain to the people what we are doing and this way we can close more chapters through the negotiation process". He said there had been a rise in of support in Estonia for EU membership last month, "but you can't win the Eurovision Song Contest every month".
Denis Staunton adds: Hungary's Prime minister, Mr Viktor Orban, has said that the EU can accept new members even if Ireland does not ratify the Nice Treaty. He was speaking after a meeting of heads of government of the 12 candidate countries and the EU.