The prospect of round-table talks in Northern Ireland is now "on hold" with no breakthrough imminent, the Taoiseach said last night in a gloomy assessment of the Northern talks.
Speaking as he went into Downing Street for two hours of talks with the British Prine Minister Mr Tony Blair, Mr Ahern warned that he did not think a long break in the political process over the summer period was desirable. However he held out little prospect of early progress amid growing uncertainy over the timing of a British general election.
Government officials are still in talks with the nationalists parties but sources say it has still not been possible to extract specific commitments from them, in particular from the republican movement on decommissioning.
Government sources also said the foot-and-mouth crisis had cast doubt over when Mr Blair would call an election. This created uncertainty over how long was left to negotiate a deal.
Mr Ahern said he and Mr Blair were still going to examine "every avenue and look at every way to try and make a success of the process".