Taoiseach Bertie Ahern expressed optimism yesterday that a powersharing executive in Northern Ireland would be set up by the March 26th deadline.
Speaking in New York to the think tank, the Council on Foreign Relations, Mr Ahern said everything else had been settled and it was now just down to the issue of powersharing.
"We are at the final stage after 10 years of this and are within 10 days of an agreement. We are at a stage when people are being positive. Dr Paisley said some very positive things yesterday and I think people are up for it," Mr Ahern said.
He told his audience that Dr Paisley and Gerry Adams had yet to meet, which showed just how difficult the two parties were going to find it to share power.
Responding in a question and answer session chaired by Richard Haass, the former US special envoy to the North, the Taoiseach paid tribute to the contribution of the British prime minister.
"Tony Blair did more for Ireland than any other British prime minister, including Gladstone," said the Taoiseach.
Speaking later in Washington, Mr Ahern told an audience of leading US politicians and prominent Irish-Americans that voters in the North had sent a clear message that it is time for Northern politicians to share power.
Addressing the annual dinner of the American Ireland Fund in Washington, Mr Ahern said that the key outstanding issues in the way of restoring the Northern executive had been resolved.
"It is no exaggeration to say that the fortunes of Northern Ireland will turn on developments in the week ahead. Together with Prime Minister Blair, we will continue to work closely with the parties to steer a steady course towards restoration of the devolved institutions on March 26th.
"We stand ready and committed to work with the new executive in every way that we can to make it a success," he said. The Taoiseach will meet the Democratic and Republican Senate leaders today, in advance of private meetings with House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton, Edward Kennedy, Patrick Leahy and Chris Dodd.
At the Speaker's Lunch at the Capitol today, Mr Ahern will meet President George Bush and the two men will have talks in the White House tomorrow.
Paying tribute to the American Ireland Fund, which supports dozens of projects throughout the island, the Taoiseach announced that the Government would give the fund €10 million over the next five years.
The chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, Desmond Rea, said that inquiries into alleged past actions of the RUC were placing an unsustainable burden on the PSNI. "I think there's a case for a commission to seek to understand our past that will relate to the victims and will come forward with options for how we deal with it," he said.