The preferred option for Northern Ireland remains "plan A", namely devolved government, according to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern.
But he warned that while the Government would assist political parties in the North " in whatever way we can" in advance of the November 24th deadline for agreement on power-sharing, after that time it would be "next business".
Yesterday was the first anniversary of the IRA's announcement of the end to its armed campaign.
Previously Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British prime minister Tony Blair have warned that if the parties failed to agree devolution by November, Assembly salaries would cease and the new British-Irish partnership arrangements would be introduced.
Speaking outside a reconciliation forum at Dublin Castle yesterday morning for over 70 organisations involved in reconciliation work, Mr Ahern said it was "up to the parties between now and the 24th".
In his subsequent address to the forum, Mr Ahern also outlined his frustration at the "mind-numbing" weeks of refusal by political parties in the North to agree the chairing arrangements of a committee.
This was then followed by weeks of refusal to negotiate and resolve issues that are "crucial to Northern Ireland's future", he said. "I could understand how political parties might discuss an issue and disagree. That's obviously democratic politics," he said. "[But] the weeks ahead represent a test of leadership for the parties. I hope they will rise to the challenge. I hope they will hear the positive voices for change from people like yourselves in this room today."
Mr Ahern also strongly criticised the failure of some leaders to condemn the "spreading cancer" of sectarianism, at a time when the number of reported incidents in Northern Ireland has increased by one third over the same period last year.
Yesterday's forum also heard from the headmaster of a secondary school in Ballymena about the response of schools in the area to the death of 15-year-old Catholic schoolboy Michael McIlveen. He died last May from the injuries he sustained in a sectarian assault.
Frank Cassidy of St Louis Grammar School is a founding member of "Ballymena Learning Together," a group set up by principals of nine local schools in the aftermath of Michael's death.
He said schools in the area had mistakenly believed that sectarianism was on the wane in the town. But since Michael's death, they had been "shaken out of their complacency".
One way in which the group has sought to enable young people to combat the "poisonous legacy" of sectarianism is through its plans to hold workshops and conferences for "every 15-year-old" in Ballymena.