The Government is "sparing no effort" this weekend to bring about the full implementation of the Good Friday agreement, the Taoiseach said yesterday. But putting pressure on the UUP or Mr David Trimble was not the best way of doing this, he added.
Mr Ahern said that "pressure does not bear too much fruit" and that "we are working intensively as I speak, to initiate a series of interlocking steps that can and will, we hope, lead to that outcome."
Mr Ahern, who was addressing the National Committee on Foreign Policy, said that "a final few days more are worthwhile if we get the prize we all seek.
"The reality is that the Good Friday agreement remains the best and only way of putting the past behind us; of bringing conflict to a definitive end; and of bringing about a real partnership in Northern Ireland and on the island of Ireland."
Answering questions from the audience of leading Irish-Americans, the Taoiseach said he did not see a "Plan B" if the present impasse is not resolved. "We have gone as far as we can."
The Taoiseach was careful not to pick out Mr Trimble or the UUP for blame for the present impasse but he seemed to be directing criticism at them when he said that "we were asked to review it [the agreement] and we reviewed it; we were asked to clarify it and we clarified it; and now there is no more we can do except reflect on it and say Yes or Nay."
Mr Ahern avoided answering a question as to whether the IRA was preparing to issue a statement renouncing violence.
The Taoiseach lavished praise on Senator George Mitchell. "Today I asked him to stay until Monday, but I will not ask him to stay any further. He has done his bit."
Mr Ahern set out the progress that has already been made as a result of the agreement in the areas of equality and human rights, but "there are still areas of Northern Ireland which are poisoned and disfigured by sectarian hatred. There are still families who live daily with the threat of sectarian attack hanging over them."
The Taoiseach, who was accompanied by Ms Celia Larkin, returned to Dublin early this morning.