The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, predicted an immediate development on the issue of paramilitary prisoners when answering questions on the Northern talks. "I appreciate that the British government will make further progress on the prisoners' issue before the end of this week," he said.

Praising the British government, he said: "I have to say that in relation to a number of the issues I raised last week, and issues that have been raised by the SDLP, Sinn Fein and others, the British government has responded very positively in recent times. That should be clearly acknowledged. I do note that Gerry Adams, as leader of Sinn Fein, made some acknowledgment of that."

Replying to Mr Austin Currie (FG, Dublin West) Mr Ahern said that while the overall level of British army activity had decreased in the North, it had increased in nationalist areas. In some areas in particular, such as south Armagh and east Tyrone, the military was using the opportunity to engage in activities which it was not able to do for 30 years.

That was absolutely anathema to the nationalist people, said Mr Ahern, adding that the situation had been highlighted in talks with the British representatives. He welcomed the announcement made by the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, this week on the policing issue.

Mr Currie said that policing was a central issue in the North. "Without a solution to the policing issue, there will be no solution to the Northern Ireland problem," he added.

However, confidence-building was a two-way process, said Mr Currie, and he asked Mr Ahern to make known to the Sinn Fein leadership the importance of "the return of the bodies of the disappeared".

Mr Ahern said that there had been substantial progress in the Northern talks. The long, detailed and intensive discussions proved difficult, but were useful in that detailed papers were put forward by the various parties across the three strands.

The bilateral meetings, while not speedy, were allowing people to get to the core of the issues, he added.

The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, said there had been a considerable degree of movement in the talks in the past two weeks in Belfast.

There was a need for the Ulster Unionists to address in a substantive way the issues in Strand Two of the talks, and there was an equal need for Sinn Fein to address Strand One in a serious way.

"If both of those can be achieved, there is a good basis now for progress in the talks," he added.

Mr Bruton said it was important in Strand One, from the point of view of the nationalist community, that time be devoted to equality issues. In some cases, they were as important as the North-South issues.

Asked by the leader of Democratic Left, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, if he saw the setting up of an East-West body parallel to the North-South body, Mr Ahern said that sufficient progress had been made to have a report drawn up on the matter and have other people give their views.

Mr De Rossa said he was disturbed about reports that the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, had intervened with the German Chancellor to seek to have the proposed extradition of Ms Roisin McAliskey from Britain stopped.

"If that report is true, I believe it would be a gross interference in the judicial process and would not be one I would like to see continued or initiated again in relation to anybody else."

Mr Ahern said that the Minister had met the McAliskey family and their legal representatives and those engaged in the campaign for the release of Ms McAliskey. "He has conveyed some of the views, as I understand it, as given to him by the legal representatives, to his counterpart."