The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has urged Sinn Féin and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) to act quickly to remove the last obstacles in the way of elections in the North, writes Denis Staunton in Rome
Mr Ahern said, after a meeting in Rome with the British prime minister, Mr Tony Blair, that the British and Irish governments were willing to live up to their responsibilities, as outlined in the Joint Declaration.
He said, however, that an IRA declaration on acts of completion and a unionist commitment to make the Executive work were essential to create a positive atmosphere for elections.
"These are two things the governments can't do. We can't give the declaration on acts of completion and we can't give the commitment to work the executive positively. It will be ferociously difficult if we go into an election that is not positive, where we can't see our way through it. That's the difficulty and that's why we really need people to move quickly, very quickly," he said.
Mr Ahern and Mr Blair had a short meeting in the margins of an EU summit to launch the final stage of negotiations on a European constitutional treaty. The Taoiseach said the Government remained committed to the idea of elections in the North regardless of political progress but he acknowledged that Mr Blair took a more cautious approach.
"We think elections should be held anyway. He would like to know definitely that if we have elections, on the other side of that we have a working executive. We agree with that too but we think the elections should happen anyway," he said.
The Taoiseach said, however, that movement on the part of the IRA and the UUP could create positive conditions in which to hold elections.
"If we achieve this, we will have an election that's positive, then we will set up an executive on the other side of it that's power-sharing and the institutions will get back to work as envisaged in the Good Friday agreement. It is not unduly complicated but we are running out of time and we really need people to come to conclusions," he said.
Mr Ahern declined to say what form of words the IRA declaration should take but he said that, a year after the collapse of the Executive, all the participants knew what was required.
"We haven't been prescriptive about those words. We've been trying to get back to what the meaning and the trust is and where we were last March and April. We didn't succeed then. Everybody involved knows exactly what's required. It's pointless saying it over and over again. It's totally understood and obviously there have been drafts and drafts and drafts and people understand it very clearly."