St Patrick's Day/Washington: The Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly must be re-established "seamlessly" if the IRA and other paramilitary organisations end all activities, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said yesterday.
The carefully phrased declaration was made by Mr Ahern following a St Patrick's Day meeting yesterday in the White House with the US President, Mr George Bush.
Increasing the pressure on the Northern parties in advance of next week's talks, the Taoiseach said there is "no possibility" of success unless all of the parties accept that the two issues must move in step.
"I don't see any possibility of getting an end to paramilitarism in the absolute and complete way that I want to see, and I think everybody else wants to see, unless there is a clear commitment that on the other side of that commitment there is going to be full, inclusive government and not after a long period of contemplating whether it is the right time, or the wrong time.
"It has to move seamlessly from one to the other," he said. Mr Ahern was speaking after his meeting with Mr Bush and the traditional St Patrick's Day White House reception.
"Where else is there for any of us to go. Otherwise I will be here next year, and the year after and the year after that, or if I am not, then somebody else will and they will be saying the same thing.
"It is a meaningless exercise. We know what the issues are. The people of Northern Ireland support that and we should move on," he said, before he left for the lunch on Capitol Hill.
The negotiating line means that the Democratic Unionist Party will be urged to join an Executive alongside Sinn Féin, even though they will not have time to judge whether a possible IRA disbandment is genuine, or not.
The Northern Ireland Chief Constable, Mr Hugh Orde, and members of the Policing Board and District Policing Partnership who have faced intimidation because of their roles, attended the White House reception.
The leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Mr David Trimble; Mr Jeffrey Donaldson of the Democratic Unionist Party; the SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan; and the Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, who arrived in Washington shortly before the reception began, were all at the White House yesterday.
Presenting a bowl of shamrock to Mr Bush, who was accompanied by his wife, Laura, Mr Ahern said the US had been "unfailing in its encouragement" of the efforts to bring about peace in Northern Ireland.
"We thank you, Mr President, for your continued and strong commitment to the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement," he said.
Replying, Mr Bush said the US and the Irish Government shared a common vision for a Northern Ireland that "is stable and prosperous and tolerant and locally governed".
He went on: "We seek a lasting peace for the people of Northern Ireland, a peace that will allow people to live free of terror and intimidation. I call for a permanent end to all political violence.
"There's no place for paramilitaries in a democratic society. The partnership of America and Ireland is close. It is lasting, and it is important to the peace of the world."
Meanwhile, the UUP leader, Mr Trimble, pointedly praised the role played by Mr Bush in the peace process, comparing him favourably to the Clinton administration.
"In terms of delivering and achieving, we have found the Bush White House to be more effective [than the Democrats]," said Mr Trimble during a speech to the Heritage Foundation.
He made these remarks after Senator John Kerry, who will be the Democratic presidential candidate, criticised Mr Bush's role, saying there had been "an absence of presidential involvement" in Ireland.
Disagreeing, the UUP leader remarked: "I would like to gently say to Mr Kerry, I don't see it that way. One has to draw a distinction between appearance and reality.
"When it came actually to aiding the political process, the record [under Mr Clinton] was not so clear," said Mr Trimble, who once again called on the IRA to fully decommission its weaponry.
Rejecting Mr Kerry's assertion that "the guns are silent" in Northern Ireland, Mr Trimble said people have been killed every year since 1998 and that there ought to be consequences for that.
