The constitutional referendum on citizenship rights will held on the same day as the local and European elections on June 11th.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern announced the decision to the Dail this afternoon. He denied holding the referendum on the same date as the local and European elections would provide a "divisive or difficult" debate on the matter.
Voters will be asked to empower the Government to restrict citizenship rights in what the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, described as a measure to remove an incentive for foreign mothers to give birth in Irish hospitals.
A Government spokesman said the cabinet had decided the June date was the most suitable one for the nationwide poll. A number of issues with the wording and legislation were still outstanding, and Mr McDowell was due to consult opposition leaders in the next few days.
Earlier today, a group called the Campaign Against the Racist Referendum (CARR) described the move to restrict the citizenship rights of children born to non-nationals as "retrogressive". The group staged a protest at the Progressive Democratic Party headquarters in Dublin this afternoon.
It is calling on the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, to withdraw the proposed referendum.
The Green Party justice spokesman, Mr Ciarán Cuffe, said his party "deeply oppose" the timing of the referendum, accusing Mr McDowell of "cynical electioneering" in trying to rush it through. "Minister McDowell is failing to honour the commitment made in the Programme for Government to initiate all-party discussions prior to engaging in constitutional or other measures on the
citizenship issue," he said.
Last month, Fine Gael's former spokesman on Justice, Mr John Deasy, said his party would support the Government in the referendum, but would resist attempts for the poll date to be set on June 11th.
The Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, last week called on the Human Rights Commissions in the Republic and the North to consider whether the proposed referendum on citizenship is an attempt to remove a fundamental right conferred in the Belfast Agreement.
In a letter to Dr Maurice Manning, the president of the Human Rights Commission, Mr Rabbitte argued that the proposal to restrict the automatic right of citizenship conferred by the Belfast Agreement and by associated constitutional changes would mark a unilateral change to the rights conferred under the agreement.