Reaction:The early Northern Ireland Assembly election results are a "clear validation" of the St Andrews Agreement, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, has said.
Speaking in Brussels late last night, Mr Ahern said: "Quite a number of people on both sides who were extremely negative have to a large extent been sidelined."
Asked to identify some of the losers in the election, he said: "Anti-agreement, anti-powersharing unionists and some of the dissidents on the republican side.
"Those dissident voices have by and large been silenced by those parties who advocated for the agreement. The fact is that the people have spoken quite resoundingly for the template put out by the two governments," said Mr Ahern.
However, he emphasised that it was still too early to make final predictions on the shape of the new executive because of the complexities in the D'Hondt system.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern briefly discussed the early results emerging from the elections with British prime minister Tony Blair on the margins of the Brussels talks.
The two men, along with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, will hold a more detailed discussion this morning, before intensive talks to set up the Assembly and the executive begin next week.
The governments and the parties, said the Minister, face "a very tight timeframe" to ensure that the March 26th deadline is met.
"We are adamant again that March 26th is the date. It is in the legislation. There will be an awful lot of hard work beginning now to be done," said the Minister.
"From what happened today, it is quite clear that the people of Northern Ireland are saying to their politicians to get on with business.
"The topics that came up on the door were bread-and-butter issues. That is a transformation of the whole scene in Northern Ireland," he said.
Speaking on his arrival in Brussels shortly before 6pm, the Taoiseach welcomed the strong turnout of voters for the elections.
"In any western democracy polls close to 70 per cent would be very good. That is good for the process," he said, adding that pro-Good Friday agreement parties "had done well".
"That is very good for the other side of the elections. We will have to see how the figures pan out," said Mr Ahern, who was accompanied by Dermot Ahern and by the Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen.
Asked about the Alliance Party's showing, he said: "They certainly ran a good campaign. They were up against it compared to all of the big parties.
"Those who said that we have to work on this, that we have to get on with a devolved administration in Northern Ireland, have been vindicated. And that is across the divide," he said.
