The Taoiseach may visit Stormont again during the next fortnight as part of his continuing efforts to give fresh momentum to the Northern peace process. There is also continuing speculation about a visit by the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair.
Mr Ahern took part in a roundtable session on cross-Border bodies at Parliament Buildings which lasted almost two hours and included most of the Northern parties as well as the Political Development Minister, Mr Paul Murphy. This was followed by a series of bilateral meetings.
The Taoiseach returns to Belfast on other business on Friday and may take the opportunity to make a second visit to Stormont. Otherwise he may decide to return next week.
The size of the Irish delegation, which also included the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, and the Minister of State, Ms Liz O'Donnell, as well as senior civil servants, was an indication of the serious intent behind the visit.
The weapons issue and the formation of a shadow executive having been put to one side, the British and Irish governments are attempting to "kick-start" the process by moving towards the formation of North-South bodies.
Sources in the Irish delegation said the significance of the visit was that it marked the beginning of the process of implementing the North-South aspects of the Belfast Agreement whether elements hostile to such a development "liked it or not".
There were echoes of the 1965 Stormont visit by the late Sean Lemass as Mr Ahern and his colleagues arrived at the door of Parliament Buildings to be greeted by the First Minister, Mr David Trimble, and the Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon.
Ulster Unionist sources said Mr Mallon had rejected a proposal from them for a private three-handed meeting with Mr Ahern and Mr Trimble prior to the round-table session.
"That's not true," Mr Mallon told The Irish Times. Far from excluding the possibility, such a meeting had in fact taken place as himself and Mr Trimble spent 15 minutes over a "cup of tea" with the Taoiseach in the First Minister's office, discussing the agenda for the round-table meeting. UUP sources commented: "A cup of tea was not what we envisaged."
There was an open divergence of view in the morning discussion on government structures between the First and Deputy First Ministers on the degree of Sinn Fein's engagement. "There has not been an engagement by the leadership of Sinn Fein on these issues," Mr Trimble said. However, Mr Mallon said this was "not accurate", adding that "they have applied themselves very substantially to the discussion in a very productive and very comprehensive way".
There was further UUP sniping at Sinn Fein when Mr John Taylor said Mr Gerry Adams was becoming "the joke of Ulster politics" because of his stance on decommissioning.
Speaking to reporters after the round-table session, Mr Ahern said it was important to "move to finality" on agreement over the North-South bodies. "That is one stage. The next stage between now and February is then to work this into legislation, to work it into agencies," he added.
Highlighting the short period of time available to put the necessary measures in place before the expected transfer of powers in the spring, Mr Ahern said: "From my considerable experience on legislative matters and my colleagues over the years I know that that does not happen overnight."
UUP sources commented after the round-table session that it was "a fairly generalised meeting" which did not get very far. There was some UUP resentment at attempts to raise the prospect of North-South bodies other than the "sample" ones listed in the agreement. It is understood different parties suggested cross-Border bodies on the promotion of trade and industry, industrial training and the Irish language, none of them included in the Strand Two list in the Good Friday document.