There could be no internal solution to resolve the situation in Northern Ireland, the Taoiseach said in Belfast yesterday.
"The concept of an internal solution is over. There is nobody arguing for that. We are not going to have an internal solution and people will have to understand that," Mr Ahern said. He made his comments during an address to a Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce lunch.
Mr Ahern also repeated that cross-Border bodies would need to have executive powers. "They certainly need to be allowed to act, to have powers to act, and not to be hamstrung," he said. He said there would be representatives on these bodies from "whatever body is in the North" and from Oireachtas Eireann.
He did not consider this to be a "partitionist" settlement, and said it would mean that the basis of the Framework Documents was followed.
He added: "What has to be clear is that if they were ad hoc bodies or if the bodies had no powers, if they were not executive agencies, then they would be seen to have no teeth, and quite frankly, we know it's no good debating this issue, we know that that would not be acceptable."
Earlier, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Mr David Trimble, said that if the Republic "should make the mistake" of joining a single European currency, he believed there would be "very, very few areas" where cross-Border co-operation made economic sense. He was responding to comments made yesterday morning by the Taoiseach.
The North-South element in any Northern agreement was of critical importance, Mr Gerry Adams told Mr Ruairi Quinn in their first meeting since the change in Labour leadership yesterday.
They both agreed, in statements afterwards, that there could be no internal settlement or return to one-party rule in Northern Ireland.
Mr Quinn welcomed the commitment by the Sinn Fein leadership that its representatives would continue to participate fully in the talks process.
Both leaders expressed concern at the fear of the sectarian nature and level of the violence in Northern Ireland.