The Taoiseach said it would be helpful if the IRA said the war was over.

Mr Ahern was replying to the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, who noted that while the IRA had said the war should be over, and must be over for good, it had not yet said that it was over. He added that such a gesture from the IRA would make decommissioning a far less acute problem. The absence of the use of the word "is" before "over" was the problem.

Mr Ahern replied: "It is part of the problem, but the deputy is correct. It certainly would be helpful."

Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain (SF, Cavan-Monaghan) said the Taoiseach had inferred in recent comments that Sinn Fein public representatives "have backing other than the electoral mandate that I and other representatives of my party enjoy. I reject that."

Mr Ahern said he totally acknowledged that every member of the House was there on a democratic mandate, including Mr O Caolain. "I have no difficulty saying that. My point, which I do not withdraw, is that in trying to make sure there is no violence, and democracy is seen to happen, people cannot be associated with those who are armed."

Earlier, Mr Ahern said the IRA offer, which was made on the day the Belfast Agreement was suspended and had since been withdrawn, was a substantive one. "It went a considerable distance, although, as I also said last week, it did not seek full clarity. It was, however, a significant move.

"I am not sure what time of the day the offer was presented. I understand it was made by telephone. It was certainly made during the course of the day, not after the suspension. It was made more formally after the suspension as further meetings were held.

"My officials spent 13 days working to avoid the `last hour' syndrome, but that did not prove possible. Ultimately, this created a difficulty because there was too much to achieve on the last day.

"If it had happened two weeks earlier, we may have overcome the difficulties on which we had been trying to make progress since November. Others and I made a number of statements here, in South Africa and elsewhere on this issue. Two weeks previously, I asked my officials to go to Derry to start a process which went on for 13 days. Waiting for the last day was clearly unhelpful. I do not know why that happened. I can only assume people had not cleared their minds and, perhaps, still have not done so."

Mr Bruton asked if the Taoiseach considered that making an offer so late, on the day before the crucial unionist meeting, and giving it confidentially to the Prime Minister, was designed not to allow the other parties to examine it sufficiently.

Mr Ahern replied that he did not think so. "It was a process of push and shove for two weeks to reach a final position. The offer was not intentionally made at the last hour. That would not have been consistent with what had happened previously."