The Cabinet is due to discuss the North when it meets today for the first time since the summer break. A Government source accepted that recent events had created "a very difficult period" ahead of the review of the implementation of the Belfast Agreement to be chaired by Senator George Mitchell.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, had a brief telephone conversation yesterday with the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams. A Government spokesman said "there were no plans at the moment for any meetings with the Northern party leaders".
However, it is understood the situation will be re-assessed at the end of the week.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, accused the Taoiseach of adopting "a tactical silence" in relation to the North. He claimed Mr Ahern "would gain greater leverage on other issues" if he spoke out "simply and clearly" on "beatings, banishments and punishment shootings". Mr Bruton said it would be easier to get the Mitchell review of the implementation of the Belfast Agreement to work if the Government showed clearer moral leadership on these issues.
"Of course it is necessary also to say that an imperfect peace is better than no peace. Of course it is necessary to show a degree of patience with those who may be ma king the transition from paramilitarism to politics. It may be neces sary to make pragmatic judgments like Mo Mowlam had to make last week on the IRA's cessation of military operations", Mr Bruton said.
He said if the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, could "see that masked and armed men are a threat to democracy in East Timor - surely he can see that they are a threat to democracy" in Northern Ireland.
The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, said "a continuation of the political vacuum that currently exists would be disastrous" for the peace process. He urged the Ulster Unionists to indicate their readiness to participate in the Mitchell review. "What the peace process needs at this stage is direction and engagement. The review should give it that. At every stage of this process people opposed to the agreement have sought to use periods of political inactivity to destabilise it. This is what is happening at the moment.
"Sinn Fein, too, should end their equivocation about whether they participate in the review. The Northern Secretary has gone to some lengths to facilitate their participation in the review and it should be reciprocated by securing an end to the current spate of IRA expulsions and indicating that they will give the upcoming review every chance."