The Taoiseach renewed his appeal for an end to paramilitary activities when speaking in the Dáil in advance of his meeting with Sinn Féin's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness.
Mr Ahern said it was now almost 10 years since the first ceasefire and seven years since the second. "It is time to bring these activities to an end. Otherwise more people will be killed and injured. "I am not in a lecturing mode. I will outline again today that activities of this nature cannot continue in a normal political situation."
Mr Ahern was replying to the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, who had asked what action he proposed to take "to cut out the nonsense and deal with paramilitary activities which are happening in this State to the detriment of our democracy, commerce and way of life."
Mr Kenny said that last weekend's "boiler-suit brigade abduction" in Belfast provided further proof of the accuracy of Mr Gerry Adams's chilling declaration that the IRA had not gone away.
"It appears that the victim in this case was about to meet a brutal and horrific end. The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland has said categorically that the abductors were members of the Provisional IRA. I met this morning with the Independent Monitoring Commission and was shocked to hear that Sinn Féin has said it will not co-operate with it in any way."
He asked Mr Ahern if he believed "the time has come to stop pandering to the IRA and its political representatives who are clearly intent on continuing to engage in various forms of criminal behaviour."
Mr Ahern said that last weekend's events had brought into clear view what the Government had felt for some time about many paramilitary attacks.
"They are horrific. I had an opportunity over the weekend of talking to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and I also met the Chief Constable. I know, from the meetings of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Cowen, yesterday, and from reports of these issues, that the individual who was abducted received approximately 93 stitches.
"It is the view of the security forces that, by ramming the vehicle, they saved his life. The security forces believe that he would have been transported across the Border and executed.
"It is the view of the British Government, the Northern Ireland Office, the Chief Constable and the Secretary of State that the people involved were members of the Provisional IRA and closely associated."
He added that his views, set out in a speech to the University of Coleraine a few days ago, were that it was long past the time for an end to paramilitarism and the association with it.
"That has been my view for many years and my publicly declared view since I agreed to the process of the acts of completion in the autumn of 2002 with the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair. We set out to define those in a way we believe is tough on one side, but sensible on the other.
"We did not include everything in paragraph 13. For example, we did not include racketeering because we assumed that kind of activity has gone on for generations and takes a period to end. That does not mean we condone it. We are trying to get to end this activity in a reasonable time and it is imperative that we do so."
Until everybody signed up to the policing arrangements, there would be attacks, said Mr Ahern. "I hate to say what I am about to say, but I may as well do so because I hear it said to me frequently.
"In some communities, it is popular to engage in policing activities because the police cannot do their normal job. Some people even say pressure is put on paramilitaries to engage in policing activities. I do not believe this was the case last Friday, but it has been so in other incidents."
Mr Kenny said that a political party had stated that it was on the road to peace and reconciliation, democracy and truth, yet a room in Belfast was cleaned out and an individual tortured.
He added that the Minister for Justice had stated that Sinn Féin in the Republic was funded by organised crime in some way. "Racketeering, punishment beatings and abductions had continued to take place."
Mr Ahern said that a substantial effort had been made by the Minister for Justice in the past year regarding racketeering and evidence of it. "The Minister now has regular meetings with the security services to deal with these issues. This has achieved substantial success. People have not been caught in the act, but they have changed their ways."
Later, Mr Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (SF, Cavan-Monaghan) interjected to say that Sinn Féin was not involved in the work of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning. "Furthermore, the matters raised by Deputy Kenny will certainly be addressed in a meeting between Sinn Féin and the Taoiseach later today."
