The Taoiseach "stood by the photographs and the agreement" and would say as much to the Dáil during tomorrow's debate on the British-Irish Comprehensive Agreement, the Rev Ian Paisley said yesterday after he had received a phone call from Mr Ahern.
"I asked for an apology, a full apology," Dr Paisley said. "I told him that if he wanted to change his mind, he was entitled to do that, but he is entitled to ring me first and say 'I am changing my mind and backing out of this agreement, I don't agree with the photographs'. But he said: 'I do agree with the photographs'."
The DUP leader continued: "Then I read to him what he said, and he said: 'Yes, that was very badly put, I admit that'."
Dr Paisley then asked the Taoiseach if he was now making the apology which was sought.
"Yes, I give you a full apology, and I regret that you were offended," Dr Paisley said Mr Ahern told him.
The DUP initially reacted with anger to the Taoiseach's remarks and immediately broke off contact with the Government, demanding an apology. Dr Paisley had said that he would not deal with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, or with Government officials at planned talks involving the Northern Secretary and the other parties at Hillsborough Castle tomorrow.
Speaking earlier, Dr Paisley said: "From day one until now Mr Ahern never opposed photographs, and [ he] suddenly meets two IRA/Sinn Féiners and comes out and says: 'It's not workable, that's out'. So anything the IRA says is not workable, he will bow to. He double-crossed Mrs McCabe, he'll not double-cross us."
The DUP was incensed that the Government appeared to shift its position on verifiable decommissioning just five days after stating acceptance of the need for photographs at a joint press conference in Belfast with Mr Tony Blair.
For the Ulster Unionists, Sir Reg Empey said that the Taoiseach's remarks "made the DUP look foolish". He added: "It is clear that, despite all their bravado and chest-beating, they didn't have the decommissioning part of this deal nailed down. The DUP admitted yesterday they didn't even have the role of the observers nailed down."
The SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, who meets the Taoiseach this evening in Dublin, said that the furore over Mr Ahern's remarks made the two governments' "Comprehensive Agreement" look even less comprehensible.
Mr Durkan leads a party delegation to Leinster House today to lobby TDs on what the SDLP sees as unacceptable changes to the Belfast Agreement, which he details in an opinion piece in today's Irish Times.