The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, will travel to Hillsborough Castle tomorrow week in their renewed push to restore the initiative in the peace process.
The two leaders will meet in private with each of the main Northern Ireland parties during what will be a fortnight of extensive international engagements for the Taoiseach. With the International Monitoring Commission investigating the alleged abduction by Provisional IRA figures of the republican dissident Mr Bobby Tohill, Mr Ahern and Mr Blair are expected to demand action from Sinn Féin to end operations by the IRA.
They will also be seeking a simultaneous commitment from the DUP and Ulster Unionists Party to share power with Sinn Féin if paramilitarism is ended.
Mr Ahern travels to Washington tomorrow for a St Patrick's Day meeting with the US president, Mr Bush, before a summit in Canada on Thursday. The Hillsborough meeting will be followed by a two-day EU summit in Brussels at the end of next week.
The efforts to restore the initiative in the peace process come after weeks of pressure on Sinn Féin from Mr Ahern and the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, over the incident involving Mr Tohill and "criminal heists" by the IRA at Dublin Port. The report of the International Monitoring Commission will rule whether the IRA was responsible for Mr Tohill's abduction.
Mr Ahern and Mr Blair decided at their meeting in Farmleigh last Thursday to intensify the talks process. Both leaders are frustrated at the slow rate of progress since the assembly election last November and fearful of a vacuum emerging in the process before summer.
They want to see firm progress before the European election in June and summer loyalist marching season. The Taoiseach is expected to ask Mr Bush at their meeting on Wednesday to use the influence of the US administration to urge Sinn Féin to bring paramilitarism to an end.
The Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, will also be in Washington for St Patrick's Day, along with representatives from each of the other main parties. Mr Peter Robinson is travelling for the DUP.
Meanwhile, the British government is expected to publish four reports by Judge Peter Cory into four killings in the North. The judge has recommended public inquiries be held to examine each of these cases.
