The Belfast Agreement will not be fundamentally changed by the upcoming review, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said this evening, adding that the review process would be short and begin soon.
Standing alongside British Prime Minister Tony Blair after meeting pro-Agreement parties at Downing Street, Mr Ahern said everyone had come too far to give up now.
However, Mr Blair sounded more pessimistic saying he could not say if the Agreement could be saved. "I think it is too early to say whether it is possible to find a way through this yet," he said.
The emergence of the Democratic Unionists as the biggest party in the North has led to deep concern that consensus on restoring devolution in North may be impossible in light of Rev Ian Paisley's policy of not engaging with Sinn Féin while the IRA remains armed.
"The vast majority of people of every persuasion want devolved government," Mr Ahern said this evening, adding he would work to ensure it was returned "as soon as possible in 2004".
Mr Blair agreed that too much work had been done to give up and concurred with the Taoiseach when he said the review of the Agreement should begin shortly and be "short, sharp and focused".
Mr Blair when asked if he could work with Rev Paisley, said: "I will do business with anybody who has got the interests of all the people of Northern Ireland at heart ... on the basis of equality for human rights."
Mr Ahern also revealed legislation providing for the setting up of the International Monitoring Commission (IMC) would pass through the Dáil tomorrow, providing for it to be operational by January 1st next.
Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble welcome the development but said neither the establishment of the IMC nor the review of the Agreement could address the underlying problem of Northern Ireland's political process - the failure of republicans to decommission all their weapons.
PA