Sinn Féin has threatened legal action unless British prime minster Mr Tony Blair sets a date for elections to the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly, it emerged tonight.
With Mr Blair due to have talks next weekend with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, on the future of the troubled peace process, republicans warned they could go to the High Court to challenge the decision which postponed the poll last May.
The Irish and British governments had planned to hold the elections this autumn, but no definite decision has been taken.
An announcement could be made in a couple of weeks, and Sinn Féin claimed there was some indications that Mr Blair and Mr Ahern could call an early election.
But a party spokesman also said tonight: "Unless the British proceed to a date certain for the Assembly elections there is no possibility of republicans even considering any further initiatives."
The Assembly was suspended and the elections put on hold after Mr David Trimble's Ulster Unionists threatened to withdraw from Stormont amid claims of the IRA spying inside Castle Buildings and resistance by the Provisionals to demands to stand down the organisation.
The warning of legal action - either by a voter or the party itself - is "a live option," according to the Sinn Féin spokesman.