The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is due to travel to Scandanavia this afternoon in an effort to restart stalled talks on a first constitution for the enlarged European Union.
Mr Ahern is planning to tour all EU capitals in the next month to meet each country's leader before a crucial summit on June 17th and 18th.
Today he begins a round of talks in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, including an important first meeting with new Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka.
He begins a three-day whistlestop tour of Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Italy, Spain and Portugal on May 12th when his meeting with new Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will be closely watched.
After touring Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic on May 19th and 20th, he will save the EU's big West European powers for his final leg on June 2nd, visiting Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and Denmark.
Senior officials from the 25 member states met in Dublin yesterday to discuss legal texts put forward the EU's Irish presidency on secondary issues where outline agreement was reached late last year before the negotiations collapsed at an acrimonious summit.
Participants said the mood was constructive but contentious issues would only be broached when foreign ministers take up the negotiations in Brussels on May 17th.
Efforts to reach a constitution foundered last December over differences on member states' voting powers, with Spain and Poland resisting pressure from other states, led by Germany and France, to switch to a decision-making system giving more weight to population size.
Differences also remain on the size of the European Commission, the range of policy areas where national vetoes would be retained and procedures for amending the constitution.
The Irish document made no concessions to Britain on two "red line" issues on which it seeks to main a national veto - co-operation against tax fraud and evasion and social security. Both Madrid and Warsaw have since changed government and signalled a new willingness to compromise, as has Germany.