The Taoiseach has said the Government intends to restart talks with Sinn Féin next week despite his belief the IRA was behind the Northern Bank robbery in Belfast.
Mr Ahern told reporters in Beijing today that contact with republicans would be preferable to no contact, even if he wasn't "enthusiastic" about it.
The Provisional IRA has been blamed for stealing £26 million sterling from the bank's Belfast headquarters before Christmas.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Ahern, said yesterday that Sinn Féin and the IRA must now to prove their commitment to ending criminality before negotiations of the type seen before Christmas can resume.
He and the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, said after a meeting in Dublin yesterday they were 100 per cent certain that the IRA had been involved.
They also said it was unlikely that an inclusive deal would be agreed in the near future as a result.
"The raid and the political implications represent a very serious blow to the peace process," Minister Ahern said. "The confidence that we have had in this has taken a major hit."