Tension between Dublin and London over publication of Judge Peter Cory's report on eight controversial killings could surface when the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, meet in Downing Street on Wednesday to meet some of the Northern parties.
Mr Ahern and Mr Blair are due to meet the Ulster Unionists, Sinn Féin, the SDLP and Alliance on Wednesday afternoon to discuss how a review of the Belfast Agreement should proceed in the New Year, particularly after the Assembly elections where the DUP and Sinn Féin made huge gains.
The DUP, which refuses to discuss "internal" Northern Ireland issues with the Irish Government is seeking a separate meeting with Mr Blair tomorrow, citing the Rev Ian Paisley's absence on EU business on Wednesday for his inability to go to Downing Street .
While much of the focus will be on whether the review should constitute just that or a renegotiation, as the DUP is demanding, the Taoiseach and Prime Minister are also expected to discuss the issue of Judge Cory's recommendations.
The Irish Government fears that the British government may renege on a Weston Park commitment to simultaneously publish the Canadian judge's accounts of the six cases involving eight killings, two of which related to Dublin and four to London, according to reliable sources.
On Thursday the Irish Government is due to publish two of Judge Cory's reports dealing with the IRA murders of Lord Justice and Lady Gibson in 1987, and RUC Supt Bob Buchanan and Insp Harry Breen in 1989. It is putting pressure on the British government to publish the four cases that Judge Cory dealt with north of the Border: the 1989 UDA murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane; the beating to death by a loyalist mob of Catholic man Robert Hamill in Portadown in 1997; the INLA murder of LVF leader Billy Wright in 1997; and the LVF murder of Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson in 1999.
Judge Cory recommended all four of the British-related cases should be dealt with by public inquiry, while just the murders of the two RUC officers warranted an inquiry, according to reliable sources.
Publication of the reports was delayed until now as the two governments examined the implications of the judge's recommendations in terms of national security, criminal proceedings, or if people named faced a threat to their lives.
As recently as last month the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, said he hoped the reports would be published before the end of the year.
A British source yesterday confirmed, however, that this could slip into the New Year, although publication might still happen before then. London has been citing issues of national security and the protection of people named in the report for the delay. Dublin, according to reliable sources, believes the main issue here is Judge Cory's findings in relation to the UDA murder of Mr Finucane.
Dublin suspects that Judge Cory's findings on Mr Finucane's murder could be quite explicit and provide more detailed and damaging evidence of alleged British collusion with loyalists in the killing, said one Dublin source.
