The Taoiseach has said any failure to implement the Good Friday agreement would force the Irish and British governments "to step in and assume their responsibilities, including through appropriate suspension arrangements" for institutions set up under the agreement.
Mr Ahern's comments indicate support for the so-called "default mechanism", to ensure that decommissioning follows the appointment of the power-sharing executive, as outlined by the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson.
The Taoiseach told the Dail the perspectives of the parties in the North differed on devolution and decommissioning, but "all elements will stand, or fall, together. All must be delivered in accordance with the terms of the agreement".
He said that while arms decommissioning was essential, it had to be "a voluntary act and cannot be imposed".
"The consistent position of the Irish Government has been that we want to see the earliest possible decommissioning. There is now agreement that the right and indeed only context for the achievement of decommissioning is the implementation of the agreement as a whole, including the establishment of the institutions," the Taoiseach said.
A special meeting of the Cabinet is expected on Thursday week to make the declaration necessary to bring the amended Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution into effect. Mr Ahern said that regardless of what happened to the institutions the constitutional amendments, once made, would stand.
The Taoiseach said that "a handful of dissidents" continued to threaten the peace. However, the Government would take further vigorous pre-emptive action to frustrate the activities of dissident groups. He said he continued to reject a deeply flawed political analysis which misled people into attempting futile but potentially lethal attacks that risked killing innocent people. Deaglan de Breadun, Northern Editor, writes:
There was a broad welcome for yesterday's announcement that the RUC is to be awarded the George Cross for gallantry. Coming ahead of Saturday's crucial Ulster Unionist Council meeting in Belfast to discuss the package agreed at the recent Stormont talks, there was inevitably considerable speculation that it was a ploy to appease critics of the Patten report on policing and bolster the position of Mr David Trimble within the Ulster Unionist Party. There was a setback for the UUP leader yesterday when one of his closest allies, the director of the party's information office in London, Mr David Burnside, indicated he might vote against the proposals coming before the UUC on Saturday.
The deputy leader of the SDLP, Mr Seamus Mallon, said the RUC award should be seen as recognition that "the concerns of those who most value the RUC have been acknowledged and appreciated". Ms Bairbre de Brun of Sinn Fein said the decision was "grossly offensive to the many people who have suffered at the hands of this discredited force".