The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has sought an urgent meeting with the Taoiseach to discuss the possible release of the four men convicted in relation to the killing of Det Garda Jerry McCabe.
The GRA met in Adare, Co Limerick, this morning to discuss the matter after Mr Ahern told the Dáil last week he would recommend the early release of the killers as part of an overall settlement on Northern Ireland.
Garda McCabe was shot dead in Adare village in the course of a botched armed robbery.
Speaking on RTÉ radio after the meeting, the chairman of the GRA's Limerick division, Mr Kevin Carty, said that neither Garda McCabe's widow Ann nor others opposed to the early release of the men could be held responsible for delaying the North's peace process.
The release of those convicted in connection with Garda McCabe's killing - Kevin Walsh, Pearse McAuley, Michael O'Neill and Jeremiah Sheehy - is understood to be part of a deal that would see the restoration of the power-sharing institutions in Northern Ireland.
Speaking to RTÉ's Morning Irelandthis morning, Mr Kevin Carty of the GRA said that the matter will be discussed but said he took the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, "at her word" when she said no decision had been made on the issue.
Ms Harney told RTÉ last night that the Government does not what those responsible to go free.
"The Government has never considered the release of these people, and that remains the position" she said, before adding that it would "only do so in the very unusual circumstances where we would have an end to IRA arms, an end to paramilitarism and an end to criminality."
However, with regard to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern's, comments in the Dáil last week that he had "no alternative" but to release the four men, Mr Carty added that the Taoiseach "has his responsibilities and he has his duties, and we can't blame him for trying to resolve this [the North] issue."
"One of our members was shot dead . . . and we have to represent Ann McCabe, and her family, and we have represent the GRA," he added.
Mr Carty went on to say that Mr Ahern "should have consulted" Ms McCabe before making his comments.