The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, welcomed the IRA announcement, although he said yesterday morning he would wait for a response from the decommissioning body before commenting further.
Fine Gael and Labour yesterday welcomed the IRA's latest act of decommissioning but Labour's leader, Mr Ruairí Quinn, suggested it may have been timed to boost Sinn Féin's election chances.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, said he wanted to see total disarmament of all paramilitary organisations as promised in the Belfast Agreement.
He said the agreement, "now in operation for four years, committed all parties to the total disarmament of all paramilitary organisations".
He said that the resolution of the decommissioning issue was an indispensable part of the peace process. "I look forward to the day when all paramilitary organisations will have totally disarmed and when all other aspects of the Good Friday agreement will have been fully implemented."
Mr Ahern said: "I think the fact that it has happened is significant in itself, and I think the republican movement, the republican leadership, would be well aware from their talks over many months now with John de Chastelain about what he would want and he would see as, you know, being really significant.
"But we will have to wait to see how he interprets that."
The Taoiseach thanked Gen de Chastelain for his continued work.
"The whole issue of decommissioning has been a slow, painstaking one but still we're getting there," said Mr Ahern.
Mr Quinn said the confirmation from Gen de Chastelain of the act of decommissioning was welcome.
"But it needs to be treated with some caution given the ongoing questions about the continued involvement of the republican movement in paramilitary violence, both in the Republic and in Northern Ireland."
He speculated that this particular act of decommissioning may have been "timed with a view to revive Sinn Féin's flagging election campaign in the Republic, but most voters will want the republican movement to provide convincing evidence that it is, in the words of the original Mitchell report, genuinely committed to democratic and exclusively peaceful means of resolving political issues."
While the destruction of arms was a positive step "democrats have never accepted the right of any paramilitary organisation to hold or bear arms .
"All of the arms held by the republican movement and other paramilitary organisations are illegal and they should all be destroyed or handed over to the authorities.
"Full decommissioning and the severing of all links with the IRA will be required before Sinn Féin can be a full member of the democratic family," said Mr Quinn.
The Progressive Democrats national chairman, Mr John Minihan, welcomed the IRA move, but said its timing could only be regarded as cynical.