EU FOREIGN ministers said the Lisbon Treaty was "still alive" yesterday, but assured Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin that this did not mean Ireland would be excluded from the union.
Ministers from the eight EU member states that have yet to ratify the treaty signalled they would continue this process despite the Irish No vote.
France and Germany, which both threatened to isolate Ireland in the wake of last week's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, softened their public stance, saying that the Irish No was not just an Irish problem.
French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said Paris respected the Irish vote. "We are all Irish," he said. "It's a European matter and it is not an Irish matter."
Mr Martin told journalists no one had pointed the finger of blame at Ireland and there was a spirit of solidarity at the EU meeting, which was held behind closed doors in Luxembourg.
He did not rule out holding a second referendum on a redrafted version of the treaty but said it was far too early to decide how to proceed.
"We have not considered any options . . . We don't want to be left behind, we have always been strong supporters of deepening the impact of the EU on our lives," said Mr Martin, who insisted that his EU counterparts understood the need to give the Government time and space to analyse the results.
Mr Martin held a bilateral meeting with German foreign minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, who over the weekend had suggested that Ireland could take a break from the union.
Mr Steinmeier said yesterday he hoped for a solution this year and suggested a re-vote might be possible after adaptations to the treaty to address Irish concerns. "There are thoughts about whether the Danish model of 1992 might be a model," he said, referring to opt-outs granted to Denmark that enabled the Danes to endorse the Maastricht Treaty after an initial referendum thumbs-down.
One potential adaptation being considered by EU officials would provide Ireland with the right to appoint a permanent commissioner.
Meanwhile, France yesterday blamed the European Commission for the Irish No vote, saying it had not addressed EU citizens' concerns about rising oil and food prices. But commission officials privately rejected this suggestion, arguing French officials had caused more problems during the campaign by being outspoken on corporate tax and threatening to punish Ireland for a No vote.
During a visit to the Czech Republic the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said he would like to visit Ireland to find out why voters rejected the treaty. After meeting central European leaders he rejected talk of a "two-speed" EU in which countries that ratified the treaty would press ahead leaving others behind.
In the House of Commons yesterday, British foreign secretary David Miliband denied Conservative Party claims that Ireland was being "bullied" into accepting the treaty because of combined British, French and German plans to press ahead with ratification.
Mr Miliband said: "You underestimate the Irish people if you think me, by talking to the French and Germans - as if that is some kind of sin in the European Union - is going to bully them into anything."
Meanwhile the Taoiseach discussed the implications of the referendum result with the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, in the margins of their meeting with US president George Bush in Belfast.
"I believe that prime minister Brown's comments earlier today, which he repeated in our meeting, were measured and constructive, and recognise the need for the EU member states to work together calmly and constructively to find a way to deal with the undoubted difficulties which arise from the referendum result," said the Taoiseach.
Mr Cowen added that he would be briefing all the other EU leaders at the European Council in Brussels on Thursday. He said that while he understood that the result of the referendum gave rise to deep disappointment among other EU leaders, it would be important for all the member states to work together in finding an acceptable path forward.
The Cabinet in Dublin will consider the issue today.