The Government has been compiling an overall paper on the Northern talks, the Taoiseach revealed. Mr Ahern added that he was encouraging the British government to do likewise.
"I do not believe that it will be possible to reach the Easter guideline if we continue to take each section in isolation and try to get total agreement," he said.
"I formed that view before Christmas. My view is to put the full propositions on the table, lead them into the Downing Street Declaration and the Framework Document, but I equally believe the sooner the better that everything is on the table."
Mr Ahern said agreement would never be capable of being put to the people if it had the slightest inclination of a fudge. "It cannot be an absolute union on one side, the absolute step to a united Ireland on the other. I think it has to be as clear as it possibly can be as a document. "From that point of view, we know the outlines, we know the strands, the confidence-building measures required. We know the equality agenda, the importance of the prisoners' issues. We know the roles of education and other matters and really I think it behoves us to try to document that and see what substantive agreement we can get."
If the process was dragged out indefinitely they would lose too many of the players. There was also the difficulty of the international community. He was conscious of the British government not having the same involvement, given that the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, had other responsibilities. The US President also had other responsibilities.
"We have called on them, and the previous government has called on them, to give a lot of time to this, so I believe we need to concentrate our minds in a shorter timespan than others. I cannot say I have agreement on that, but I am endeavouring to convince people that it is the right way to go," the Taoiseach said.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, welcomed the Taoiseach's revelation that there was an overall paper in being upon which work was being done.
He said he supported the stand taken by the two governments in applying the Mitchell Principles with "vigour and rigour". He suggested it would be useful to establish a unit reporting directly to the talks' participants on the ongoing day-to-day respect for the Mitchell Principles in practice, so that there would be objective information available other than from the security forces alone.
This should be done particularly regarding punishment beatings and shootings, he added. Mr Bruton said at this stage in the talks a cross-strand mechanism was needed whereby it would be possible to discuss simultaneously the North-South institutions and the internal mechanisms. It was important that Sinn Fein should be willing to address internal issues as part of a three-stranded approach and that it could not sit there just making notes and not participate in the discussion. It was equally important that the UUP be willing to have a bilateral meeting with Sinn Fein, notwithstanding that the main business would be done in the plenaries.
Mr Ahern said more dialogue was needed across the various strands.
Asked by the leader of Democratic Left, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, if any efforts were being made to include the DUP and UK Unionists in the talks, the Taoiseach said he would dearly love if they would rejoin. It would be helpful to have as many parties as possible there because the more people signed up to the agreement the better.
On the new inquiry into Bloody Sunday, Mr Ahern said he thought the British public and political system wanted to see the issue dealt with.
Mr Joe Higgins (Socialist Party, Dublin West) said it was crucial to acknowledge publicly that the Protestant community over 25 years has also suffered hugely from sectarian and paramilitary outrages against it. Mr Ahern said all sides of the community had suffered.
