Intensive efforts in London and Dublin will continue over the coming days to ensure the ban on Sinn Fein ministers playing their full role in the NorthSouth Ministerial Council is lifted and to encourage the Provisional IRA to re-engage with the decommissioning body chaired by Gen John de Chastelain.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, commenting after a meeting of nearly two hours with the Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, in London yesterday, stressed that in terms of maintaining the institutional integrity of the Belfast Agreement, the impasse over Mr David Trimble's motion must be resolved quickly.
Writing in the Times yesterday, Mr Mandelson asked the Ulster Unionist Party to lift its ban on Sinn Fein attending North-South Ministerial Council meetings. He has also urged the Provisional IRA to "re-engage properly" with Gen de Chastelain's decommissioning body.
Signalling the Government's irritation over the ban, Mr Cowen said in an interview with RTE that constitutional changes were implemented "on the basis that the legitimacy of the North-South structures would be maintained" and it was a "very unfortunate outcome" of the UUC meeting that Mr Trimble's motion had been endorsed.
He said London and Dublin were working to create the conditions in which all institutions under the Belfast Agreement were fully operational.
"As custodians of the agreement, both governments have a specific and special responsibility regarding the full implementation of the agreement . . . there are difficulties, both governments will use all of their efforts in the coming days to resolve them quickly, as I think they must."
Mr Cowen also signalled a period of intensive appraisal by London and Dublin over the next few weeks of a range of issues to create "a positive set of circumstances whereby decisions can be taken without people fearing voluntary decommissioning has been compromised".
There had been "progress" in talks with Mr Mandelson on the Police Bill and the Government wanted to see a "pragmatic outcome" to the process that would see nationalists joining the police service in Northern Ireland.
Mr Mandelson said both governments shared a "common analysis, a common understanding" of the problems. He stressed the importance of lifting the ban on Sinn Fein participation in the council and ensuring paramilitaries engaged "properly" with the decommissioning body.