Ulster Unionist MP Mr Ken Maginnis has said the Taoiseach goes "mentally on walkabout" when dealing with Northern Ireland affairs, and believes unionists "don't matter".
Addressing delegates at the Humbert School in Ballina at the weekend on the theme of New North-South Relations, Mr Maginnis said Mr Ahern had a tendency to go "mentally on walkabout" when it came to Northern Ireland affairs. "He is a good politician but he is careless and he hasn't got over this attitude that somehow unionists don't matter at the end of the day, because he can speak to Peter Mandelson or Tony Blair any time he wants to.
"Unless people like you can impress the concern I have on your political leaders, we are going to have a ghetto mentality," he told delegates.
People liked to talk about the Belfast Agreement, he said, but there was clearly no day-to-day application of it. "We take for granted the good that will emanate from the Belfast Agreement and ignore the fact that our churches are prepared to underpin further the ghetto politics that exist on a day-to-day basis in Northern Ireland." He also claimed that the attitude towards policing in Northern Ireland was pan-nationalist. "It's not about accountability or responsibility. It's about humiliation." He suggested people consider how the State had dealt with the Jerry McCabe killing.
"You cannot let his killers out of prison but you can let out the killers of 300 police officers in Northern Ireland. I accept that we let these people out of prison early. It's what is part of conflict settlement, but it has been without any reciprocation whatsoever. So many are now saying we have made a mistake, because they have not received any re ward for what has happened."
Mr Maginnis contended that Garda McCabe's killers would be released. "They have to be, because they are included in the Belfast Agreement."
The flying of Tricolours by nationalists in Northern Ireland was also causing great offence, Mr Maginnis said, adding that he had not seen one since he left the North to travel to Mayo. The "prejudiced feeling is so much more comfortable now that your economy is booming".
Mr Austin Currie TD said he was sorry to hear such despondency. The people of Northern Ireland would decide its future and, in the meantime, people should get on with the business of making it a more prosperous place for everyone. He suggested that the flying of flags of any colour in Northern Ireland should be outlawed.
The ultimate test now was the setting up of the new police service, which would have to attract men and women from each side so that it would be seen to belong to all of Northern Ireland.
"I believe the most serious threat is the failure of the British government which has held out on implementing the Patten recommendations. This British procrastination is providing additional time for the republican movement to dodge its responsibility. Under this programme, they have to urge nationalists to join the new police service, as part of the move to have the service fully representative."
Mr Llewellyn King, a publisher and journalist from Washington DC, said a sense of joy over the newness of the situation in the North was missing. It could not be resolved until it became some kind of zero state, but in the meantime, things such as greed and wealth could help.
"People who are interested in such things have a respect for property and want it protected. Greed is an ugly word but it has its beauty also because it is detribalistic, which works exquisitely in the US. People who are primarily concerned with prosperity can get over many, many divisions. Where it matters, tribalism is in defeat."
Mr King said that the peace after the second World War was an extraordinary example of this and was the reason the war was not fought in perpetuity.
He suggested the introduction of incentive measures, such as the honours system of patronage in Britain and the awards system for loyalty and co-operation in the US. There was a lot of work to be done in Northern Ireland, he concluded, even more than in the Balkans.