Unionists believe it is critical that there be an IRA statement on violence before the end of next week, the Taoiseach said in Killarney yesterday. Such a statement would be "immensely important" to building confidence on the ground.
Mr Ahern was speaking to the press after addressing the ICTU conference. He said he could not be sure that such a declaration would emerge. "All my negotiation has been with Sinn Fein, not the IRA," he said. He called on the IRA leadership to "cross the Rubicon" and make a statement on decommissioning.
The unionist community needed to hear from both the IRA and Sinn Fein on the issue, he said. In the past he had believed that IRA and Sinn Fein were "opposite sides of the one coin", but this was no longer the case. That was why the IRA had to make its position clear.
Earlier, addressing the conference, he said the people of the North voted for an inclusive powersharing executive. He appealed to the parties to use the decommissioning process as a way forward.
During a debate on Northern Ireland, the incoming president of the ICTU, Ms Inez McCormack, said Congress reaffirmed its commitment to the Good Friday agreement, which "offers an honourable settlement based upon inclusion, equality and justice". SIPTU's regional secretary for Northern Ireland, Mr George Hunter, said that if the establishment of an inclusive power-sharing executive was the necessary prerequisite to the decommissioning process, "then so be it".