Leaders' press conference: The Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister insisted yesterday that they had brought unionists and republicans within sight of a comprehensive agreement, with Mr Ahern saying that he thought a deal by Christmas was still possible.
The two yesterday published extensive documentation on the recent political negotiations and emphasised the progress which had been made rather than the failure to reach agreement.
Speaking to reporters in Belfast, Mr Ahern said he would like to see the process completed by Christmas, adding: "I still believe that is possible."
Mr Blair said that the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, would meet again in the next few days to discuss how more progress might be made.
While there is growing concern that the political process may be stalled until after next year's expected British general election, Mr Ahern said that just a few items remained unresolved.
Mr Blair said that the documents were being published to allow the people of Ireland, north and south, to discuss and debate the matter. Just one difficult issue remained, which was whether decommissioning should be photographed.
He said that in June of this year, in talks in Lancaster House, four areas had been identified which needed resolution: the end of paramilitary activity; decommissioning; the amendment of aspects of the Belfast Agreement, to provide the basis of power-sharing between the DUP and Sinn Féin; and policing.
"Now," he said, "there is an agreement to sort out an end to paramilitarism, an agreement to complete decommissioning, an agreement that there should be power-sharing, an agreement on the basis of that power-sharing, and an agreement in respect of policing. Those of you who have studied this over the years will realise that to have agreed all those matters is very considerable progress."
The Taoiseach also emphasised the level of agreement shown in the documents. "Here you have a package that covers decommissioning, demilitarisation, stability of the institutions, policing for the future, all of the things we have endlessly been answering questions about. They have now been agreed."
Mr Blair said the difficulty was the belief on the unionist side that it was "necessary that the decommissioning be photographed and the photographs published". This had not been agreed to.
He said that the British and Irish governments had submitted a compromise proposal which would have allowed the photographs be taken at the time of decommissioning but published when the executive was set up. "We believe that that would have been a workable compromise, but there we have not, for the present at any rate, found agreement."
The Taoiseach said it was not for him or Mr Blair to decide whether photographs were necessary to secure public confidence in the decommissioning process. "We listen to what the parties say . . . It's not that we saw it as necessary or not."
Mr Blair paid tribute to the North's politicians, saying it was wrong to take a cynical view of them because of the failure to reach agreement. "It is thanks to political courage shown by the UUP and SDLP, in particular, that we managed to get the Good Friday agreement, and Sinn Féin, too, of course. It is thanks to a lot of political courage on the part of the DUP who, after years of believing they had to say 'no', I believe are finally prepared to say 'yes'. It has been very hard and very difficult for republicans to travel the road they have travelled and I pay tribute to the leadership of Sinn Féin in helping them do that."
The Taoiseach said that everything was now agreed "bar a few issues". He continued: "I'm not saying it's just one. Obviously, General John de Chastelain would have to finalise his conversation with the IRA representative and to get everything in place to ensure these things are done properly. That didn't happen because we didn't get to that stage."
"The issue of the photographs has not been agreed," Mr Blair said. "Everything else has been agreed. I believe all the other modalities of decommissioning could be agreed, but this is the outstanding question, and it is to do with confidence on the one side and the desire on the other side that they not participate in anything that they regard as humiliating."
While the issue of photographs had not been agreed, Mr Ahern and Mr Blair denied that the IRA had reneged on any earlier commitment.
"There is no allegation of bad faith here," said Mr Blair. "We are not saying that people came to an agreement and then reneged on an agreement."
Mr Ahern also said there had not been a breach of faith. It was simply that agreement could not be found.
In relation to Dr Ian Paisley's comments that the IRA needed to be humiliated and to wear "sackcloth and ashes", he said: "If harsh words were going to put us off seeking an agreement in Northern Ireland, we are never going to have an agreement in Northern Ireland. I understand the very strong feelings caused by words that are spoken, but I still think we have just got at some point to be able to put that to one side and get on with it."