TheTaoiseach has said he believes the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, will be "very pleased" at the commitment of President Bush in relation to the UN's role in post-war Iraq.
Mr Ahern said he would be speaking to Mr Annan either late last night or today to brief him on his meeting with the US President and the British Prime Minister at Hillsborough.
Mr Annan will visit London, Paris, Berlin and Moscow before the weekend to discuss the situation in Iraq.
Mr Ahern told reporters yesterday that he had urged the two leaders "to initiate immediate talks with the UN to get a partnership under way and I will be conveying the same message to the Secretary-General either later today or in the morning".
He said that the two leaders' statement yesterday was "entirely in line with what many of us have been hoping for and calling for. It is that the United Nations has a vital role to play in the reconstruction of Iraq.
"That can only mean one thing," he went on: "That the United Nations are going to have a vital role to play."
The two leaders said that the Iraqis should begin to govern themselves as early as possible, said Mr Ahern, and that they wanted the establishment of an interim administration. They also said that the Iraqi authority would be established "first and foremost" by the Iraqi people with the help of the allies and working with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
"I do not think that could be clearer," said Mr Ahern, adding that it was in line with what Mr Annan had been seeking.
In relation to the Middle East, the Taoiseach said that compared with his recent meeting with President Bush in Washington on March 13th, the President seemed "far more determined now to move" in relation to supporting the "road map" Middle East peace plan.
"He is going to put in a very large commitment and time commitment and human capital into the project. Obviously he can't do that while the Iraqi situation is still at its heights, but it's quite clear that he is going to put in a big commitment to try to get a resolution of that."
He said that the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, had been strongly making the point in recent months that progress on the Middle East peace plan would make an enormous difference to the entire region.
The progress of the British and US military forces in Iraq "makes it possible to hope that the war will be over soon and that Saddam's regime will be at an end and that there will be no more deaths".
He believed aid and relief were best managed by those who had a proven track record and acceptability, "in particular the United Nations and also the NGOs, including Irish NGOs who are prepared to be in the field and those who are already there.
"Realistically in the present situation in Iraq there has to be the closest co-operation between the United Nations and the coalition if the administration of aid is going to work effectively."
Mr Ahern added that he had emphasised humanitarian issues, and particularly the need to provide immediate treatment and care for the casualties of war, both civilian and military.
"The situation in the hospitals in Iraq is very difficult as we have all seen. I urged the President and the Prime Minister to provide field hospitals for the injured as a supplement to local hospitals. Ireland has pledged humanitarian relief and we will deal with this as it arises."
A Government spokeswoman said last night that Mr Ahern was very happy with the outcome of the meeting with President Bush and Mr Blair.
She said the Government could increase the €5 million already allocated for the relief of distress in Iraq to support such an initiative.