Pro-Agreement parties in the North will meet again next week in an attempt to iron out problems in the peace process.
Speaking after talks today chaired by Northern Secretary Mr Paul Murphy and the Minister for Foreign affairs Mr Cowen, Mr Murphy said: "We have agreed to meet next week to continue our discussions."
Mr Cowen described the meeting as "frank and mutually respectful".
"We have had a good beginning. A lot more work remains to be done."Earlier the US envoy Dr Richard Haass agreed with the Taoiseach's contention that the Executive could be back at work by February.
Speaking after a meeting with Mr Ahern in Dublin this afternoon, Dr Haass said that although it was an ambitious target, he believed the Executive could be working by early next year.
He said Sinn Féin participation in policing would be "desirable" but he did not think it essential to the reconstitution of the Executive. "It doesn't negate the need for progress on other fronts whether involving republicans, involving the IRA getting rid of its capability . . . in the area of demilitarisation and normalisation on the British side, or for example equality and human rights," he said.
It is generally accepted by pro-Agreement parties, and by both governments, that the Executive should be functioning before the elections which are due to take place next May.
But Ulster Unionists are insisting only an end to all paramilitary activity can bring power-sharing back.
Yesterday, in a message directed at unionists, Mr Haass said he wanted to see them "lead and make the case that life is better under the Agreement, that this is the best path forward, that there is no going back".
But in their submission to the all-party table talks at Stormont, UUP negotiators Sir Reg Empey and Mr Michael McGimpsey said the Agreement would only be fulfilled "when the IRA and other paramilitaries cease their activities and lose their capability".
But Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams said the British government held the key to a successful outcome to the talks.
Representatives from the Ulster Unionist Party, the SDLP, Sinn Féin, the Progressive Unionists, the Alliance and the Women's Coalition attending today's talks. They have been boycotted by the Democratic Unionist Party.
Additional reporting PA