The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Ahern, has called for a definitive end to paramilitarism and criminality from the provisional movement and openly challenged its leadership to restore confidence in the stalled peace process.
Addressing the Meath Peace Group in Navan this evening, Mr Ahern's message echoed that of the President, Mrs McAleese, yesterday, when she said it was time to "close the door on the tradition of armed struggle".
Mr Ahern said the IRA and Sinn Féin were impeding the implementation of the Belfast Agreement and hindering the North South co-operation and the agenda of peace, justice, equality and Irish unity.
Decommissioning, and the continuation of "trust-sapping" paramilitarism are the two primary impediments to implementation of the Belfast Agreement, he said.
"The present impasse in the peace process is the clear and simple failure of the various paramilitary organisations, including the provisional leadership, to heed the will of the Irish people," he said.
"The Government cannot order the provisional movement to deal with these issues, only the provisional leadership can" he said.
"After the Northern Bank Robbery we asked the provisional leadership to reflect on how trust and confidence, which had been massively damaged, could be restored ... it requires the provisional leadership to take a major initiative that restores some sense of confidence and positivity," he said.
Mr Ahern said he was speaking as an "ordinary Irish republican, not so much a politician or public representative". However, he also questioned the political motives of Sinn Féin.
"On Wednesday as I sat with Robert McCartney's devastated family, the provisional leadership laughed and staged snowball fights for the cameras. And that juxtaposition really brought home to me the depths of the present crisis," he said.
"For 18 years now we've had a peace process. And after Wednesday, I like many others before, was compelled to reflect on whether the provisional leadership wanted a final peace at all or just the never-ending process."