The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, will launch an intensive round of talks in London on Monday aimed at breaking the deadlock over decommissioning and the implementation of the Belfast Agreement. Simultaneous bilateral talks between both governments and Northern parties will take place in Dublin and Belfast.
Mr Ahern and Mr Blair will make contact with all the parties over the weekend and on Monday both leaders will meet, in turn, the Ulster Unionist Party, the SDLP and Sinn Fein. The commitment to finding a solution based on the agreement of all parties was underlined by the Taoiseach when he emerged from a 60-minute meeting with Mr Blair at Downing Street yesterday.
The two governments will "do everything humanly possible" to find a means of implementing all aspects of the Belfast Agreement, Mr Ahern said.
Urging the parties to row in behind the two governments, he added: "People say that we should take the lead and we do that. I also feel at times that the Prime Minister and myself are, not least, long-distance runners running into a desert.
"I think the very phrase that you take the lead means there is someone behind you, and I hope, in this case, that there is as well. What we want to do is to continue to lead and ensure there are people with us as well."
While the Taoiseach maintained the two governments were "very proud" of the Belfast Agreement, he acknowledged that the Hillsborough Declaration did not have the widespread support that it had been hoped it would achieve, and he admitted that he could not put a date on when the executive would be formed. The Hillsborough Declaration, he said, was presented as a "working draft." Some aspects were supported by the parties, "but it is also clear to us that we have not yet reached a form that will give us consensus for the implementation of the Good Friday agreement. "We know people's views on that and there are very useful parts in it, and there are other parts that I don't think will ever get accepted. That's the reality of the situation."
Asked if the two governments would ask the parties to come up with an alternative to the Hillsborough Declaration, the Taoiseach said that, regardless of the difficulties, the important issue was to find a way of achieving a consensus on the means of implementing the Belfast Agreement. With Downing Street echoing the Taoiseach's words of determination and resolve, the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, who will hold talks with the parties in Belfast on Monday, admitted there was "no doubt that we are in difficult times, no one is hiding that".
But she said there was "equally no doubt" that the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach were doing everything they could to implement the Belfast Agreement. She said the two governments did not have magic wands, but there was a clear determination among the parties to keep on talking. "That's what is important. We can make progress by building confidence as long as the parties are talking."
The Taoiseach was joined by the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, and the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms Liz O'Donnell, at Downing Street. After the meeting, Mr Ahern gave a public lecture at the Irish Studies Centre at the University of North London.