The Irish and British governments are on the verge of suspending attempts to restore devolution in the North before next month's Assembly elections, with the Taoiseach saying they are now trying out their "last few initiatives". Mark Brennock in Athens and Gerry Moriarty in Belfast report
Mr Ahern, Mr Cowen and senior officials continued their exhaustive contacts with the North's pro-agreement parties last night as hopes faded that the required "clarity" would come in time from the IRA concerning its future intentions.
London sources insisted that what was currently on the table from the IRA could not satisfy the British and Irish governments, let alone the Ulster Unionist Party, that it was clearly stating it was ending all activity.
"What is on offer is not going to do the business, and a point must come where we admit that this is not going to work," said one senior British insider.
The Taoiseach said talks were continuing with the parties yesterday, but there was still no sign of any breakthrough, or any indication that the IRA was going to strengthen its statement to show it was effectively ending its war.
The stalemate has opened the prospect of Assembly elections with no certainty as to whether those elected would assume any political power. The governments are losing hope that the elections would allow the North's voters to choose the composition of working power-sharing institutions.
Speaking at a press conference at the EU summit in Athens last night, Mr Ahern said: "We will have to call it sooner rather than later." He said he did not want to give a deadline, but it would be "not too much longer".
The Government last night remained less pessimistic than the British, but Mr Ahern acknowledged that the "exhaustive" process since last October might not succeed at this point.
"If at this stage I felt there was no more point we would just have to see what would happen at the other side of the election," he said.
The Taoiseach declined to outline the unresolved issues, but the strength of the proposed IRA statement announcing that it will cease activity permanently and dispose quickly of a substantial amount of weapons is widely acknowledged as being at the heart of the deadlock.
The Irish and British governments have judged that what is currently on offer from the IRA is not enough for Mr Trimble to convince his Ulster Unionist Party to re-enter the power-sharing institutions.
Mr Ahern discussed the issue early yesterday morning face to face with Mr Blair and said he would talk to him again by phone late last night. "We are going to keep at it, at least for another while, because we have made progress, just not sufficient," he said.
While signalling time was running out, he said that for as long "as there is a value in trying to narrow the differences", they would continue.
They were not trying to resolve the entire Northern Ireland peace process, "but at least to bring an end to this stage of it, to build the trust and confidence". Even if there was agreement now, policing and some other issues would still have to wait until after the Assembly elections for final resolution.
While they could end the current phase of contacts in failure, "it is our judgment, both Prime Minister Blair and myself and our respective ministers, that we are not at that stage".
He said they had made a lot of progress since abandoning last Thursday's planned Hillsborough meeting - widely believed to be due to lack of IRA clarity - and had even moved on "a bit" since the detailed IRA statement was given to them last Sunday. He said Assembly elections would go ahead on May 29th no matter what happened.