A deal to ease the crisis surrounding the Northern Ireland peace process can still be brokered if the British government acts swiftly, Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams claimed today.
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The Taoiseach Mr Ahern and the British Prime Minister Mr Blair are set to meet in Downing Street later this evening.
Mr Adams said this meeting indicated the gravity of the situation.
"I welcome the fact that the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister are meeting. It's a sign of the seriousness and the gravity of the situation that there's such close contact between the two principals," he said.
But with growing fears the political institutions set up under the Belfast Agreement may be suspended because of the failure to strike agreement on decommissioning, demilitarisation and policing, Mr Adamswarned the British government against shutting down the process until after their general election.
He said: "I think that the policing issue can still be sorted out.
"I know people say it isn't possible, that we're going into an election, but we all know if the British government has the will to sort this out it will be sorted out."
Mr Adams said that achieving apolice force which nationalists and republicans could sign up to was becoming the key to opening up the other disputed issues.
He added: "They have to deal with demilitarisation. It's a crazy situation that you have a remilitarisation."
Despite the high-profile recruitment drive for the new police service of Northern Ireland, Mr Adams stressed he remained "one million per cent" certain that nationalists and republicans could not support the new force.
PA