The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, have agreed to hold a three-day summit aimed at restoring devolution in mid-September in southern England, sources have told The Irish Times.
Leeds Castle in Kent will be the venue for the intensive negotiations by the two leaders and the Northern parties, subject to the moated castle being cleared by British security personnel.
The Northern parties will be contacted on Monday advising them of the plans to hold the negotiations from September 16th to 18th.
These talks will be similar to the intensive negotiations at Weston Park near Birmingham three years ago.
In advance of the talks there will be preparatory negotiations in the first two weeks of September involving British and Irish ministers and the parties at Stormont.
The Northern Ireland peace process will be "in difficulty" if the parties do not make real progress towards agreement by September, Mr Blair warned yesterday.
He said he had set aside "significant" time in September to talk to the parties involved. But he acknowledged that failure to reach agreement in September would be a savage blow to remaining optimism that a settlement could be achieved.
In a strong signal to Sinn Féin, the British Prime Minister said that Northern Ireland was now "beyond the point of compromise" over paramilitarism.
He added that it was vital that any party wanting to take part in democratic politics ended all links with violence.
But he also had a message for the Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party, saying it was incumbent on all those in the peace process to sit down in government with those who have renounced violence.
Asked at his monthly press conference whether September was a deadline for agreement, Mr Blair responded: "There is no point being arbitrary about it, but unless we really do make progress in September, we are in difficulty."
Mr Blair said his commitment to the peace process remained "absolutely total".
He added: "The only way we are going to reach an agreement is if it is absolutely clear that paramilitarism is at an end in respect of anyone seeking to go into government.
"We have gone beyond the point of compromise on that. People were prepared to have a period of transition, but now that must be absolutely clear.
"On the other hand, if that violence genuinely is given up for good - and that means dismantling all the preparations for it - then there is an obligation for people across the communities to work together, in government together.
"I think we have got this opportunity now. The DUP and the Ulster Unionists are saying, provided it is clear that the violence has ended, that they will go into government."
