The Minister for Finance is standing by his praise for the No vote on the Nice Treaty despite the Taoiseach stating that Mr McCreevy had since "clarified" his position.
The signs of Cabinet differences over Europe remain. Mr McCreevy's spokeswoman disputed that there had been any clarification of his remarks, which have been supported by a Cabinet colleague, Ms Sile de Valera.
However, Mr Ahern said at his press conference in Gothenburg on Saturday: "The Minister has clarified his comments."
The Taoiseach sought to minimise the importance of Mr McCreevy's comments that the No vote was a healthy anti-establishment gesture of which the Irish people should be proud. The Taoiseach insisted that the only way to be in the EU was "fully".
Mr McCreevy, said the Taoiseach, had been "expressing in his own way the Government's respect for the independent decision of the people in the Nice referendum and for the integrity of the democratic process, making it clear that he fully supports everything that we did here yesterday . . . and fully supports Government policy in favour of enlargement and the Nice Treaty".
However, Mr McCreevy's spokeswoman said later that there had been no clarification and that she had merely provided a "synopsis" of the Minister's remarks to Sunday newspaper journalists. "The Minister is fully behind Government policy on the issue", she said. "People had a democratic right to vote and we had to respect their wishes and analyse the situation and find out the best way to move on from this."
A spokesman for Ms de Valera, the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, said yesterday that she believed there was a clear message for all political parties from the No vote. "She believes that message is that they do not want further centralisation, or integration, and they certainly do not want a United States of Europe", he said.
Minister of State Mr Willie O'Dea said that while he did not agree with the No vote, he understood it, and he believed it showed that democracy was alive and well in Ireland.
"He [Mr McCreevy] never said it was a good thing they voted No. But every cloud has a silver lining. This turned out badly for the Government and badly for Europe, but it showed that Irish people are stubborn, and if they want to make a decision, they will. It shows a certain robust independence which I admire", Mr O'Dea said.
Another Minister of State, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, revealed last week that he had voted No in the referendum.
Mr McCreevy's comments have aroused strong criticism from Fine Gael and Labour, which characterised them as "reckless" remarks made at a very sensitive time in Ireland's relationship with the EU.
Questioned on Saturday about Mr McCreevy's remarks, Mr Ahern declared: "If you want to be in the European Union there is only one way you are in it, in my view, and that's fully. That's it. We've got to get working on it."
The Gothenburg European Council meanwhile approved broad economic policy guidelines which express concern about Irish budgetary policy and again call on the Government to take measures this year to counter the inflationary effects of Mr McCreevy's last Budget.
However, several EU leaders are understood to have remarked that the censure of Ireland earlier this year may have contributed to the No vote.
Leaders of many of the accession states told reporters that Mr Ahern and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, had left them with the clear understanding that there would be another referendum in Ireland on the Nice Treaty and that there would be a better information campaign next time.