Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said that a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty is likely to be held in the first week of October.
Mr Cowen made his comments after European leaders gave Ireland the guarantees on the Lisbon Treaty it has sought, crucially with a pledge to incorporate them in a future EU treaty.
The Taoiseach said concerns that led the Irish people to vote No to the Lisbon Treaty last year have been addressed by the legal guarantees approved at the European Council in Brussels.
Speaking in Brussels this afternoon, the Taoiseach said the outcome of the EU summit was of huge significance for Ireland and the European Union.
"I feel we will be in a position to hold a second referendum at the start of October."
Mr Cowen said he wanted to go through the procedure of consulting his cabinet colleagues and bringing the necessary legislation into the Dail before announcing the date.
"We came here with two aims. Ireland wanted firm legal guarantees. We got them. We wanted a commitment to a protocol. We got that. I am confident we now have a solid basis to go to the Irish people and to ask them again for their approval for Ireland to ratify the Treaty so that Europe can move on," said Mr Cowen.
"Since last June, our over-riding objective has been to address the concerns expressed by the people last year and to ensure Ireland continues to pursue our interests from the heart of the European Union. We have got the response we wanted.
"I am looking forward to a mature debate about the treaty – free of the scares, myths and misinformation which marred last year’s campaign," he added.
Agreement on the shape of the deal followed an early morning meeting between the Taoiseach and British prime minister Gordon Brown at which the latter indicated that the British would no longer stand in the way of a reference to a future protocol.
The Irish guarantees will now be enshrined in a formal declaration of the European Council, which itself has legal force, and the summit will also indicate separately in its conclusions a willingness to return to the issue to copperfasten the interpreations of the treaty in the next treaty agreed between member-states, likely to be that providing for Croatian accession in a couple of years.
The specific guarantees, which do not change the Lisbon Treaty, but provide a common interpretation of it, pledge that nothing in the treaty will affect Ireland's constitutional provisions on abortion and the family, its right to determine its own tax regime, or force the state to sign up to European defence co-operation. A previous summit in December agreed that member-states would also retain their right to an individual commissioner.
This morning's deal will represent considerable relief to the Taoiseach who yesterday made clear to fellow leaders in a candid private letter, widely leaked, that he needed the protocol in addition to any legally binding statement to provide greater legal certainty. He warned that the press had already made the character of the legal guarantee an issue and reminded them that French president Nicolas Sarkozy had promised a protocol.
With agreement on the guarantees in place the Government can now procede with plans for the referendum expected to be in early October and will next week publish the details of legislation on a referendum commission.
"There will be a protocol to give a legal value to the guarantees ... It is stressed that this does not modify in any way the content of the Irish treaty for the other 26," French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters.
The treaty needs the approval of all 27 EU member states to go into effect. Ireland, the Czech Republic and Poland are yet to complete the ratification procedure.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he expected the treaty would now be approved by Irish voters.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin said they had learned from last year's failure.
"The campaign will be better organised, better coordinated. We are going to have a more energetic campaign," he said.
"We have already engaged with civil society, we have engaged with those who opposed the treaty last time and taken into account their concerns with these assurances."
There has been mixed reaction to the news that guarantees have been secured with mainstream political parties and employers organisations welcoming the news while anti-Lisbon treaty campaigners were dismissive of the deal.
At a press conference held in Dublin this morning, anti-Lisbon groups described the guarantees as a 'side issue' and said they were hopeful that a second referendum would be defeated.
Patricia McKenna, chairperson of the People's Movement said that the Lisbon Treaty about to be put before the public was the same treaty that was rejected by voters last July.
"The recent why people voted No to the Lisbon Treaty have not been addressed, have not been rectified and for that reason, once that message gets across to people, I don't think they are going to change their vote.
Newly elected Socialist MEP for Dublin Joe Higgins again insisted that the EU summit currently being held was an 'elaborate charade' meant to distract attention away from the key issues.
"The debate on the Lisbon Treaty has yet to be held because we've been dealing with side issues. The fundamentals have still to be debated," he said.
Libertas, which played a prominent role in persuading voters to reject the treaty first time out had no comment to make about the guarantees.