The November deadline for the North's political parties to form a power-sharing executive is "sacrosanct", Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said today.
Speaking after meeting Northern Secretary Peter Hain in Belfast, Mr Ahern said the governments had been "somewhat under-whelmed by the progress to date at the talks".
The Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern (R) with the Northern Secretary Peter Hain at a meeting last month.
"But the very fact the parties are in talking to the Preparation for Government Committee is something positive itself," he added.
"It's incumbent on them to move to a new phase and that's part of the reason why the prime ministers will come here.
"Both governments are adamant about the November 24 deadline and we expect people to come up to the mark.
"Ultimately it's a matter for them but November 24 is sacrosanct."
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are meeting the parties in Stormont on Thursday.
Mr Hain, who has already warned he will stop the wages of the 108 Assembly members if they do not succeed, claimed more people now wanted to see devolution work.
In a message to the Reverend Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists, he added: "That will be the question the DUP in particular confront and the whole of unionism confronts.
Dermot Ahern
"Do they want to see their MLAs pack up and go home to another life after midnight on November 24th or do they want them to do their jobs to which they were elected."
Senior DUP negotiator Nigel Dodds yesterday criticised Mr Hain, accusing him of boycotting Assembly business by refusing any more debates.
The North Belfast MP said: "There are now two boycotts of the Assembly going on: first Sinn Féin/IRA's refusal to attend, and secondly Peter Hain's refusal to permit business to take place."
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams also warned on Saturday that the political process would be in serious trouble unless Mr Ahern and Mr Blair took decisive action this week.
With his party set to review its involvement in the Assembly, Mr Adams told Sinn Féin activists in Dublin that no progress had been made over the past six weeks, with the DUP showing no interest in sharing power.
He said: "If there is to be any possibility of the power-sharing institutions being restored in the coming months, there is a need for them [the prime ministers] to take decisive action.
"There is no point in them coming to Belfast to give the parties a pep talk or to pretend that progress has been made in recent weeks. . . . They need to acknowledge that the current situation is totally unacceptable and is dangerously undermining the public's confidence."