Time is running out for the European Union to agree its first constitution, the Minister of State for European Affairs, Mr Roche warned today as Poland said it was willing to consider a compromise despite earlier perceived intransigence.
EU leaders will discuss the proposed constitution at a summit later this month following the collapse of talks at a December summit.
"We still haven't reached that elusive ground in which it's possible to say that we will have agreement. And we are aware that time isn't on our side," Mr Roche, said.
"It certainly won't be easier in the second half of the year, all the analysis suggests the other," he said on the margins of an EU conference.
The December summit foundered mainly over how to divide up the weighting of votes for decision making in the enlarged EU.
The draft constitution proposes a double majority system, in which decisions made by at least half of member states, representing at least 60 percent of the bloc's population, would go through.
This was resisted by Poland and Spain, both of which received a weighting disproportionate to their populations in a treaty drawn up in Nice in 2000. Both want to keep these arrangements.
After the failure of the December summit, the Irish presidency was mandated to consult all member states ahead of the March 25 summit, at which it will report progress made.
"We will make as much progress as we possibly can, but at the end of the day we can bring the horse to the well and the horse has got to decide to drink," Mr Roche said. "The Irish presidency can't resolve this on its own."