The invitation to the Taoiseach to address the United States Congress next year has been described as a great honour by a Government spokesman.
The invitation has come from the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, who announced it at a lunch in Washington on Wednesday attended by Northern Ireland's First Minister, Ian Paisley, and Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness.
Mr Ahern will be invited to address a joint sitting of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and while no date has been fixed the event is expected to happen in the early part of 2008.
Mr Ahern's predecessor, John Bruton, who is currently the European Union ambassador to the United States, addressed a joint session of Congress in 1996.
Liam Cosgrave also addressed a joint session of Congress in 1976 during his period as taoiseach. He followed in the footsteps of his father, WT Cosgrave, who was similarly honoured in 1928.
Ireland's longest-serving taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, also addressed a joint sitting of Congress, but the invitation to him came in 1964 when he was president. It came a year after US president John F Kennedy addressed a joint sitting of the Dáil and Seanad.
