The result of the Nice referendum was "quite shocking" although it did not mean the Irish people were opposed to EU enlargement, the Czech ambassador, Mr Petr Kolar, says.

Mr Kolar was one of a group of ambassadors from countries currently negotiating EU membership who met for almost an hour at Iveagh House yesterday with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen.

"There is no doubt that Ireland very much supports the enlargement process," Mr Kolar said. There was no alternative but to "cross our fingers" and wait for the problem to be solved, as he believed it would, by the end of 2002.

After the meeting, which was also attended by senior diplomats from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, Mr Cowen said that if the problem was not resolved by the 2002 deadline, Ireland would occupy the "very poor position" of being the only member-state blocking enlargement. He did not know anyone on either side of the referendum debate who wanted to stop enlargement.

He continued: "There is no immediate prescriptive solution on offer from this Government. We are cognisant of the position both here in this country as a result of the referendum last Thursday and of the stated collective and clear position of our 14 member-state colleagues and the candidate countries.

"We simply have to reflect on that, to recognise that the enlargement process proceeds on the basis of ratification of the Treaty of Nice, and see in what way we can structure a debate in this country which will allow those issues to be discussed rationally and openly and respectfully between all of us who may have disagreements on various aspects."

When asked to explain how a second referendum could be said to show respect for the decision of the people, Mr Cowen said: "The position clearly is that, where fundamental questions arise, it is open to the people to vote on these issues at any time, once or more."

He said the fact that two million voters had failed to turn out for the referendum "indicates that there is a need to encourage a public dialogue in Ireland which will ensure that our citizens recognise the importance of Europe in our everyday lives".

Mr Cowen met separately later with the Slovenian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Dmitrij Rupel. On the way into the meeting, Dr Rupel said: "I understand that the referendum actually was not about enlargement but was rather about some internal matters and that this can be corrected.

"I feel that Ireland is on our side."