The Forum on Europe will go ahead as planned by the end of this month, despite Fine Gael's refusal to participate, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said yesterday.
It would have been nice if all the parties in the Dβil were represented, he said, but in the absence of that, the Government had been in contact with the remaining parties and would go ahead.
The Forum for Europe was something happening in all member states.
"It is the very issue that people were critical of in the past, and they have a point, and they expressed that point in the Nice Treaty vote, that issues were not explained or debated sufficiently well," he said.
Fine Gael has refused to accept a compromise formula put forward by Mr Ahern where he suggested that the forum should spend its first three months debating the implications of the European Union's enlargement and issue a report if necessary. The Labour Party has said it is prepared to take part, despite some misgivings.
Mr Ahern was speaking after a meeting with Mr Valdas Adamkus, President of Lithuania, who is on a three day State visit to Ireland.
Mr Ahern said they had spoken about the enlargement of the EU and Irish support for that process and how the "problems" we experienced were not linked to that.
Asked if the Irish rejection of the Nice Treaty had hampered his country's chances of getting into the EU, Mr Adamkus said he did not believe so. "We actually looked at this in a very pragmatic and democratic way. We saw that a country had an opportunity to express their feelings at that time. The entire process of membership of the European Union is so dynamic that probably all elements should be considered ."
Mr Adamkus said he understood they had not been fully considered during the referendum and said he understood that "Ireland is getting ready for the second time to bring the question before the Irish people".
However the Taoiseach, when subsequently asked about a second referendum replied: "What the president is referring to is the fact that we are beginning the debate in the Forum for Europe. It will be the outcome of the Forum for Europe that will lead not only to address the issues left over from Nice but also the issues that arise from the future of Europe debate on the next move so it's going to take us some time. But there still is a deadline, and that remains that we have to try to address these issues before the end of next year."