The Taoiseach has conceded that there is no sign of progress in the dispute over whether photographs of IRA decommissioning should be taken and published, saying attempts to reach a deal would not resume until the new year.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels yesterday, Mr Ahern said: "You are not going to get any change on it at the moment. Both sides are just dug in in their hard positions.
"There is not a glimmer of light."
He said he continued to believe that a way forward could be found in the search for a comprehensive deal in Northern Ireland. But he had asked all involved "to give the process some space" over the Christmas period.
The governments hope that with a break of three weeks or more in the talks, the parties - deadlocked over how decommissioning should be verified - may find a new flexibility.
The Taoiseach was speaking yesterday after he and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, discussed the impasse with the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, on the margins on an EU summit.
In an apparent reference to SDLP concerns that some of the changes proposed undermined the Belfast Agreement, he said the two governments would be "as helpful as we can in responding to those concerns, mindful of the need to preserve the overall balance of the package".
He said he hoped the gaps between the parties had not widened as a result of the public exchanges since the two governments published their proposals on December 8th.
He also hoped the chance of agreement had not been postponed until after a British general election, expected in May.
Mr Ahern said he was concerned that the exchanges of the past 10 days could have the effect of unravelling the proposed agreement.
No new proposal had emerged to resolve the demand that decommissioning be properly verified.