The US President's special adviser on Northern Ireland ended three days of intensive talks on London, Dublin and Belfast yesterday by reinforcing a call for bold steps on all sides to break the political impasse.
Mr Richard Haass stressed the need for important moves by paramilitaries and by the British government. He said the IRA needed to take significant steps and London had to address "normalisation" of its military presence.
He added that progress could be made without unionists, but qualified his claim by insisting that the sort of advances needed to restore the Stormont institutions required their recognition. As on previous visits to Northern Ireland, Mr Haass called on Sinn Féin to take its seats on the Policing Board.
The visit helped set the tone for talks scheduled for next Wednesday at Hillsborough involving the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair. The two prime ministers are to host talks with all the political parties on a bilateral basis in what is being seen as a key stage in the search for a breakthrough.
Mr Haass said it would be known before St Patrick's Day whether the advances necessary to restore devolved government were achievable. It was now a question of whether the parties were ready to "grasp the opportunities".
What was needed, he said, was action by the IRA and the British government and then a recognition by unionists of what had been done. During his talks he had found it encouraging that people were discussing "the big ideas, the so-called acts of completion".
"I think everybody understands that we have reached the point where modest steps, baby steps, are not what is needed if we are going to break through and change the situation fundamentally and lead the way to the restoration of devolved political institutions.
"What I have in mind is an end to paramilitary activity and an end to paramilitaries retaining capability," he added.
Boldness when it came to the British government needed to be in the area of its military presence, he said. Once those two actions had been agreed, it was time for unionists to do their bit.
Mr Haass said: "It is important that if these actions are taken by paramilitaries and by [the British] government, the significance of those actions be recognised by the leadership of the unionist parties."