The Taoiseach warned yesterday against over-optimism regarding a breakthrough on the North.
"I know there is some talk this morning that this is a done deal.
"That is incorrect, and quite frankly, people who are saying that only put more pressure on the various sides."
He knew, he said, that people had to speculate, but there were still at least three important issues which needed to be resolved. "I am not going to say what they are. Some of them are in the control of the Government, and some of them the Government can do nothing about. Other issues have to be resolved with the parties."
Talking to journalists at the Wolfe Tone commemoration in Bodenstown, Co Kildare, Mr Ahern added: "I would like to think we could try to tie things up over the next few days, but I do not know. I would just remind people that we were here before. The last time - the truth of it is - we came within about 50 minutes, on May 1st. It looked all right at 11 o'clock and at 10 to 12 it was gone. Those are the facts. So I am not going to call this. Until everything is done properly, it is too hard to call."
Mr Ahern said the "position is that we have engaged in this, almost around-the-clock, for the past few days. That is going to continue today." Asked if he would travel to the North today Mr Ahern said that would depend on circumstances, "whether we go to the North, to London, or whether we go nowhere".
Pressed further on the issue, Mr Ahern conceded that the obstacles to a deal were surmountable. "But so were they the last time. Really, we went down on a line the last time.
"I do not think this will be the difficulty this time. There are other issues. We have to comply with the law and previous understandings. We are as near again as we were the last time. It is a question of whether we can carry it across the line."
Mr Ahern said he believed direct meetings between the various parties and himself and the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, were completed.
However, members of the parties would continue to meet.
He added that he remained in regular contact with Mr Blair. He said that when dealing with the North, it was better to be very precise and clear.
"That is what we are engaged in. If it is to work, it has to work not just for these few days, but into the period of an election and out the other side."
The stakes were high, he said, adding that the commitment of all the parties was enormous.
Mr Ahern said there had to be a clear understanding on decommissioning. "Legislation has been passed in Westminster and the Oireachtas on what can and cannot be done. There is huge history involved."
Meanwhile, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, adopted an equally cautious attitude.
"I don't want to speculate, because it would be idle to speculate," he told RTÉ's This Week programme.
"There is no doubt that continuing paramilitary activity and the capacity for this activity is corrosive to trust," he said, while an end to such actions would allow the agreement to be implemented as intended.