Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern declined to give a date for the European Constitution referendum as Fine Gael warned against a repeat of the "cock-up" in the first Nice vote.
Mr Ahern said Ireland had until well into 2006 to ratify the new EU Constitution but he hoped that legislation to allow it to take place and to establish the Referendum Commission would be published after Easter.
The Government will also publish a White Paper on the matter "in the coming months", he said.
During Question Time Fine Gael's foreign affairs spokesman Bernard Allen said the Minister was being "extremely foolish in not focusing minds in this country by setting a date for this year". He said that "there was a cock-up once and it there mustn't be one again".
Mr Allen believed it would be "very wise to hold the referendum before the UK turns its attention to a referendum, after its general election".
There was a danger the Irish electorate would be influenced by the British tabloid press and "indeed by one of the major news channels. A lot of our people will be moulding their views by what is happening in the UK rather than here".
But Mr Ahern rejected the criticism and said that "at the end of the day this is a decision for the Irish people and they will make the decision based on the information that they will get in Ireland, based on our own circumstances".
Mr Allen said people would not be interested by "tomes of paper being dropped in their letter box and "the Minister would be extremely foolish if he doesn't think a fair percentage of the electorate here will be influenced by some of the bias that emanates from some of the British media".
The Minister replied that "we have until well into 2006 in order to ratify this as have all the countries in the EU and there is a lot or preparatory work going on".
The Government "fully accepts that there needs to be complete information on this", he said.
Past evidence "suggests that rigorous political debate as reported on TV and radio is the most important in stimulating public interest". A "full and informed debate is necessary and the Government will ensure that there will be sufficient time for such a debate", he said.
They had to take into account what other countries were doing because it was an EU-wide ratification but "we have to make our own decisions on this".
Mr Ahern added: "I have full confidence in the Irish people that once they know and have full information they will make an affirmative decision in relation to the ratification."
