Mr Cowen promised a party for EU members and newcomers

Foreign Minister Brian Cowen made no promise of early success in talks over the EU constitution which collapsed at a summit last week.

EU leaders meeting in Brussels failed to reach a deal on voting rights in the enlarged 25-member union.

Mr Cowen said he thought there would be agreement, but the question was when.

He said the EU was not in an "insuperable crisis" and said time for reflection was needed by all sides to assess how a deal can be reached.

Ireland, which takes over the six-month revolving presidency from Italy, has already promised to hold consultations before reporting back to EU leaders at the next scheduled summit in March.

Welcome party

Mr Cowen said it could be a problem trying to restart talks before then.

But he was more optimistic about the prospect of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia joining the EU on 1 May next year.

"We shouldn't allow anything to take away from the historic nature of what enlargement means for the EU, moving from 15 to 25 full member states next May," he said.

The BBC's Oana Lungescu, in Brussels, said the centrepiece of the Irish presidency was always going to be a celebration of enlargement.

The Irish have called it a "day of welcomes" and are planning to invite the leaders of all existing and future member states a big party in Dublin, she said.

Bulgaria and Romania, who are hoping to join in 2007, and Turkey which also hopes to join the EU are also invited.