Mr Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin last night stressed the need to press ahead with the full implementation of the Belfast Agreement. He was speaking before a meeting with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, at Government Buildings last night.
Mr Adams was accompanied by a large Sinn Féin delegation, including the North's Minister for Education, Mr Martin McGuinness, the party vice-president, Mr Pat Doherty, Ms Michelle Gildernew MP, Mr Sean Crowe TD, and others. He said the meeting, in part, was "about picking up where we left off before the elections".
The two sides will be meeting again at Hillsborough on Thursday, along with the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and the other pro-agreement parties in the North.
Speaking against a background of reports that the Ulster Unionists want Sinn Féin penalised for alleged breaches of the ceasefire by the IRA, Mr Adams said it was very important that the two governments, as "the two senior partners to this agreement, do not bend themselves in any way except to see the full implementation of the agreement".
He added: "It is of crucial importance at this time that the totally intolerable situation in what are referred to as interface areas is dealt with." He had visited strife-torn areas of Belfast and regarded the continuing attacks on ordinary people as utterly unacceptable. "The Government here has to face up to its responsibility in that regard as well," he said.
He claimed there was "connivance" or at least "tolerance" of loyalist violence by the "elements of the British forces".
Mr Trimble had referred to a crisis in the peace process, but Mr Adams claimed the real crisis was within unionism. "If Mr Trimble is up to being a First Minister, his job is to stop that crisis from contaminating the political institutions."
Commenting on the attack by republican youths on the police barracks at Rosslea, Co Fermanagh, he said it should not be taken out of proportion but "it would have been far better that it didn't happen".
The area, which was a republican heartland, was highly-militarised. "I would appeal to young people to be calm," Mr Adams said.
Speaking earlier in Drumcondra, the Taoiseach said the rising tensions in Belfast were worrying: "I would love to know what the real truth of all of that is. Everyone I talk to gives me an entirely different version and they can't all be right."