The Taoiseach has warned that failure to implement fully the Belfast Agreement could mean the changes to Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution not going ahead. Mr Ahern said that as soon as devolution came into effect on July 18th, the constitutional changes in both Ireland and Britain would come into force. "Conversely, if the establishment of the institutions is further stalled, there is a danger that we might never arrive at a situation which allows the balanced constitutional changes to come into force.
"If the DUP and those of a like mind who oppose the Good Friday agreement were to have their way, they would frustrate the changes to Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution which they have so long demanded, and the full enshrinement there of the principle of consent."
During a debate on the North in the Seanad last night, Mr Ahern said all parts of the agreement needed to be implemented for it to work as negotiated. "The agreement needs to be firing on all cylinders. We have established that there are no preconditions. But the reality, which I have long recognised, is that we will only sustain an inclusive executive if the commitment to decommissioning is genuine. Equally, we were never going to reach the stage of actual decommissioning so long as it was insisted upon, in effect, as a prior condition to the setting up of an executive."
The Taoiseach also repeated his call on the IRA to support publicly the latest Northern initiative.
"As I said on Sunday, I would welcome it if the IRA were to make a statement supportive of the Sinn Fein leadership's position. But I would point out that commencement of the process of decommissioning requires, according to Gen de Chastelain's report of July 2nd, an unambiguous commitment by a paramilitary group that decommissioning will be completed by May 22nd, 2000, as well as entry into detailed discussions of actual modalities through an authorised representative.
"Gen de Chastelain is due to give further reports by September, December and next May. We will know early enough if there are delays or doubts about the fulfilment of obligations."
Mr Ahern said there was now a unique opportunity to stem the main sources of political violence on the island. "We should not spurn that opportunity. Like the British Prime Minister, I am satisfied that we received an offer from the republican leadership last week that indicates an early start to, and a definite prospect of, complete decommissioning by May 2000, in accordance with the terms of the Good Friday agreement and in the context of its implementation. I greatly welcome the initiative.
"I do not underestimate - as I believe others have - the difficulty in arriving at that point or the real courage and conviction that the Sinn Fein leadership have and will display in persuading people to carry it through to a successful conclusion. They have been prepared to go further than any of their predecessors, though I did point out in my Arbour Hill speech that after the Civil War, de Valera made a contingent offer to put weapons into safekeeping in 1923 that was rejected.
"Sinn Fein deserve great credit for being prepared to break the deadlock. I agree with the analysis that the prize of lasting peace and the setting up of inclusive institutions in which they will participate is worth that move on their part."
Mr Ahern said the Sinn Fein initiative was a necessary step if the promise of the Good Friday agreement was to be fulfilled. Sinn Fein had to rely, like other parties, exclusively on the electoral strength it had been able to win.
"I am sure that the political leadership of Sinn Fein, if not always every member of the rank and file, well understands at this stage that any sort of dual strategy is not compatible with full democratic engagement. Loyalist organisations will also have to fulfil the commitment to decommission. And there must be further demilitarisation by the security forces, as was provided for in the agreement."
Mr Ahern said the Government was very attached to the principle of consent. "It has been the key to the success of the peace process in terms of securing ceasefires, fruitful negotiations and the Good Friday agreement. Looking back over the history of Northern Ireland, exclusion was one of the principal sources of conflict. All parties need to remind themselves that they signed up to the principle of inclusive government."
The main criticisms of the failsafe mechanism, which triggered a review and suspended the operation of the institutions established under the agreement, was that it punished the just and the unjust alike, said Mr Ahern. "But is that really the case? The ultimate sanction in any democracy is the disapproval of public opinion. There would be enormous pressure from public opinion, North and South, as well as internationally, on anyone who failed to live up to their obligations, and who thus threatened to dash the hopes created by the setting up of the institutions. That pressure should facilitate any early resolution of the problem.
"I hope the unionist community will come to see, reluctantly perhaps, that The Way Forward is the best option for democracy, and for the interests of Northern Ireland."
Mr Ahern said he was glad that Drumcree had passed off relatively peacefully, and everybody would like to see a resolution of the problem through direct dialogue between the respective parties. "The spirit of accommodation must replace the spirit of domination. The residents know that for their intolerable situation to be improved, they too must be prepared to negotiate and to respond to any genuine sign of conciliation, as indeed they have been."
Mr Maurice Manning (FG) said Sinn Fein was now well and truly in from the political cold and the unionists had become accustomed to dealing with politicians from the South and working with parties they might previously have shunned. Most of all, the historic power-sharing executive was now ready to come into being.
"All of that and much more in the space of a year is indeed impressive. Given what went before, it is almost miraculous. Nobody, however, thought a year ago, or two years ago, that the solution was going to be neat and tidy."
It was no harm to remember, Mr Manning added, that our own War of Independence and Civil War lasted three or four years and yet it took us a good 10 years before political normality began to assert itself.
"And the memories of our short and, by modern standards, insignificant Civil War dominated our politics for decades afterwards. And so it will be in the North. Forgiveness will not come easily. The lack of mutual trust is still at the heart of the current impasse."