The Taoiseach renewed his call on the IRA to commit itself to the decommissioning of weapons. Mr Ahern said: "It would be immensely helpful if there was a statement from the republican movement of its commitment."

Mr Sean Barrett (FG, Dun Laoghaire) asked Mr Ahern: "Would the Taoiseach agree that in order for the negotiations and the agreement to succeed we must have in place a moderate leader of the Unionist Party? If he does agree, does that not say it all in terms of the need to compromise?"

Mr Ahern replied: "I think that is a sensible suggestion."

He said the current position was extremely difficult. He understood both sides of the argument, and the British Prime Minister and himself had been trying to encourage the parties to move to the centre to try and get solid ground on which to make progress.

Under the agreement, Sinn Fein was asked within a two-year period to do all it could to make sure that decommissioning happened. It was not, and was never meant to be, a precondition for the party's entry to the executive. "That is the first difficulty. If it is made a precondition, then obviously terms of bad faith arise . . . On the other side, David Trimble, as leader of the UUP, not to mind as First Minister-designate, has fairly well a commitment to his colleagues to in some form achieve the beginning of a process of decommissioning before he can move. That is a major problem for him."

The Taoiseach said he thought there was real engagement between Mr Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, and the chairman of the independent commission on decommissioning, Gen John de Chastelain, to try to move the issue forward. But that was going to take time and would probably create undue delays, which were not acceptable either.

The Democratic Left leader, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, said the distinction between the loyalist parties and Sinn Fein was that the loyalist parties were not expecting and were not entitled to a place on the executive. The risks to the agreement were enormous, and if a compromise was not found on decommissioning there was the possibility that the UUP leader, Mr Trimble, would lose the support of his party if he accepted Sinn Fein on the executive. Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain (SF, Cavan-Monaghan) asked if the Taoiseach acknowledged the special role and responsibility of Mr Trimble as First Minister in ensuring that the absolutely essential elements of the agreement, the executive and the All-Ireland ministerial council, were established without delay.

Mr Ahern said he knew of everybody's responsibilities under the agreement, but he also knew the limitations imposed on people.