The Taoiseach has insisted that the EU constitution can still be saved, saying he believes France and the Netherlands could vote again after most of the other 25 member states have ratified.
Mr Ahern yesterday set out an ambitious timetable for this ratification, saying that 18 or 19 member states could have ratified it by next summer. It was then up to those that had to have referendums to "sell" the constitution to their peoples, just as Ireland had done with the Nice Treaty in the second referendum in 2002.
Once that happened, he said, he hoped the French and the Dutch would "speak again" on the issue. All states holding referendums had to persuade their people of its merits. "Let's get on with it," he said.
Mr Ahern's optimistic assessment was at variance with that of many observers at the EU summit in Brussels. Denmark, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Britain have postponed referendum plans, as has the Irish Government. The Taoiseach gave no indication of when it might take place.
When he was asked yesterday if he felt the constitution could be saved, he said: "I do now. I was afraid coming here that people would attempt to cherry-pick it and that was impossible in my view" because the constitution was a balanced document.
"I was pleasantly surprised with the strength of feeling around the table in favour of the constitution. Those who have parliamentary procedures will continue [ with the ratification process].
"Those who need to have referendums by the people will go into this period of reflection very much like our Forum for Europe. Next summer it is likely that there will be up to 18 or 19 countries that will have ratified it. Then others will have to take it forward.
"Other countries will go into this active period of explaining the constitution and trying to deal with the outstanding issues, and then obviously the Netherlands and France will come back into the equation on another date, but they are not going to do it right now."
He hoped the French and the Dutch would "speak again" on the constitution. However, they would not do that without first dealing with the issues that had led to the referendum defeats. He said the French and Dutch governments had begun analysing why the constitution had been rejected.
"The analysis so far shows up that they didn't fail because of issues to deal with the constitution," Mr Ahern said.
"If we get into a position where the referendums were all to take place in the next few months, because of the effect of the French referendum in particular and the knock-on effect in the Netherlands, we would probably get six or seven countries that could say No. That's the feeling. If that happens the constitution would be dead. There is no doubt about that."
He said the Polish government was anxious to go ahead with a referendum, and that the latest poll in Luxembourg suggested it could be passed there, too.
He said French president Jacques Chirac had told the summit that a new process towards a different constitution would take 15 years. Embarking on this process could take a year or two, and would possibly add just six months to the abandoned November 2006 deadline for ratification. That was a better option, he said.
"If people are committed to saving the constitution and they feel they need more time to explain it, that to me sounds like a good idea. Now if people are prepared to go out and work on it - very much like the Forum for Europe - and engage with the people, then it can be saved.
"Selling the project, as we found out, is not that difficult when you put your mind to it, so let's get on with it."