Policing was not the only issue causing difficulty for the North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, the Taoiseach said yesterday.
Speaking to reporters at the National Ploughing Championships in Ballacolla, Co Laois, Mr Ahern said that Mr Trimble did not ask him to get nationalists to row back on their demands on policing.
"We said we'd have to work over the next number of weeks to try to deal with the outstanding issues that are creating difficulties for him and for the other parties," the Taoiseach said.
When it was put to Mr Ahern that "David Trimble's head was on the line" he replied that policing was just one issue.
"He made it very clear to me that there were a number of issues. So it would be a wrong interpretation to say that is the only thing causing difficulty for him."
He told reporters before leaving for Kilkenny and Fianna Fail's two-day seminar: "There are a number of those issues there, and we're committed to trying to work with him and the other parties in trying to find a solution. "The Patten Commission came up with proposals which are a major compromise to what the position of many people was. What we're now arguing is to implement the compromise. Wherever we can help in the various issues we'll try to do so."
