Taoiseach Bertie Ahern must do more to push talks to restore Northern Ireland's political institutions, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour leader Pat Rabbitte have said.
Speaking in Stormont following a day of meetings with Northern political leaders, the two said "momentum" had clearly gone out of the efforts to re-establish the Northern Ireland Executive by November 24th.
Northern party leaders, said Mr Kenny, had told them that Mr Ahern and British prime minister Tony Blair were "a little flat" when they attended talks with them last month.
"They need to up the work rate in so far as the difficulties that are clearly there," said Mr Kenny, though both he and Mr Rabbitte emphasised that the Republic's long-standing all-party approach to the North would continue.
Downbeat about the prospects of a November deal, Mr Rabbitte said: "You could not conclude that there is a great deal of momentum in this process at the moment.
"The parties are appreciative of what is at stake, but the pace is very slow. It is clear that there is still a great deal to be done," Mr Rabbitte told The Irish Times prior to returning to Dublin.
Besides pushing for political progress, Mr Kenny said Mr Ahern should seek greater co-operation on trade and economic issues, along with demanding a full public inquiry into the 1989 killing of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.
The two leaders met the Democratic Unionist Party leader Dr Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson before leaving Stormont for a meeting with the Police Service of Northern Ireland's chief constable, Sir Hugh Orde.
Returning to Stormont, Mr Kenny and Mr Rabbitte met separately with SDLP leader Mark Durkan; Ulster Unionist Party leader Sir Reg Empey; Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams and Alliance Party figures.
Describing the meetings as "a useful exchange", Mr Kenny said they had received "a realistic appraisal" from all of the parties. "It shows the difficulties and obstacles in the way of November 24th."
The Irish and British governments have insisted that the Northern parties must agree to the reformation of a new Executive and a fully-working Assembly by November 24th or accept that the hopes for progress have disappeared for years.
"You could not say that one is confident that the outcome would be clear by then," said Mr Rabbitte, accepting that both Mr Ahern and Mr Blair have "invested a great deal" in the efforts to make progress.
"But the impression now is that they have gone away from the meeting last month with a rather pessimistic bent and they are not pressing the parties in the way that they did in the past."
None of the Northern party leaders held joint press conferences with Mr Kenny and Mr Rabbitte, though Sinn Féin's Mr Adams said later that he had "a useful enough" meeting with them.
Mr Adams pushed them to drop their objections to Northern MPs getting rights to speak in the Dáil, insisting that they had failed to "advance a logical, rational reason" for their opposition.
However, he poured scorn on the Fine Gael and Labour leaders' description of themselves as an alternative government.
"I do not see them as being an alternative government. They may be the next government, or they may not, but they are not an alternative. They are much of a muchness. There is no difference between them and the Government. It is Tweedledum, Tweedledee.
"The alternative lies with those who want a different Ireland. All of these parties have the same policies. We want to see the economy used for the benefit of the vast majority of the people."
Privately, however, SF officials were positive about the engagement. They noted that FG/Labour were to increase their profile on Northern matters which have, up to now, been seen as the Taoiseach's strongest card.
Pushing Sinn Féin to join the NI Policing Board, Mr Kenny said that Mr Adams had told them "that progress is being made within the republican community", but that it was "unlikely" that they would join before November 24th.
Dr Paisley, said Mr Rabbitte, had emphasised that he was prepared to form a power-sharing arrangement with Sinn Féin provided that republicans' links with criminality ended.
"He is not persuaded at the moment. Hopefully, the next report of the Independent Monitoring Committee will persuade him on that issue," said Mr Rabbitte.
