The Taoiseach has welcomed the GAA's plans for a special congress to debate abolition of Rule 21, which prohibits members of the Northern security forces from joining the association.
In a speech to Saturday's GAA annual congress banquet at which he was guest of honour, Mr Ahern also confirmed that high-level talks were taking place with a view to ending the British army's 25year occupation of Crossmaglen Rangers' grounds in south Armagh.
"I'm sure that the GAA, which has always shown sterling national leadership, will be in the vanguard when courage and vision are called for," Mr Ahern said. "In this context I very much welcome your decision to hold a special congress to consider Rule 21.
"I also wish to confirm that the Government, as a matter of urgency, will be raising the intolerable situation of the Crossmaglen pitch with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. We have already been in contact with the Secretary of State and she has confirmed that an early meeting will take place on the issue."
The Taoiseach was responding to the announcement by the GAA president, Mr Joe McDonagh, that a special congress would take place on May 30th, eight days after the referendums on the Good Friday agreement.
There had been rumours last week that Mr McDonagh was considering various mechanisms for ridding the Official Guide of its most controversial provision. Among them was a tentative plan to suspend standing orders and pass by the required two-thirds majority a motion declaring the rule abolished should the referendums be carried on May 22nd.
It also became clear that he had been in constant contact with Mr Ahern in relation to the Crossmaglen issue. On Friday night the GAA president interrupted a meeting of the Central Council, which he was chairing, to take a telephone call from the Taoiseach.
Mr Gene Duffy, from Crossmaglen, who proposed Armagh's congress motion condemning the continuing occupation of the ground, said he was very happy, although "we've seen a lot of false dawns before. But as far as I know, there's going to be very high-level contact. It might take a while, but at this stage we're not going to worry about another two weeks".
There was so little information on Friday evening about Mr McDonagh's intentions concerning Rule 21 (the matter was not on the clar [agenda] and could be raised only during the presidential address or by the lifting of standing orders) that most people assumed he had decided to adopt a minimalist approach.
However, when the resumption of congress on Saturday afternoon was delayed by nearly an hour, rumours swept the Burlington Hotel in Dublin that a lunchtime Central Council meeting, held in camera, had indeed decided to suspend standing orders and push for a debate to delete Rule 21.
Little by little the rumours modified into the truth. It emerged that, although the immediate option had been that preferred by Mr McDonagh, he had decided instead to run with the idea of a special congress, the original brainchild of his predecessor, Mr Jack Boothman, and approved by the congress of 1995.
It also emerged that Mr McDonagh took the second option because of the depth of hostility to his original proposal from the Northern counties, four of which protested that they had no mandate on the matter. The other two counties (believed to be Down and Fermanagh) were content to raise the issue on Saturday.
According to one observer, the president decided to accommodate the reservations because it was feared they would lead to walk-outs and splits if a debate were brought to the floor over the heads of the dissident counties.
In the end Mr McDonagh decided to convene a special congress, and the Central Council agreed unanimously. During his speech, he made a vigorous case for repeal.
"I say to you that we cannot, as the largest organisation in this country, shirk our responsibility or role in achieving and contributing to peace . . . I believe we must now play our part in the evolution of peace and equity, even if it means some risk."
Despite apparent confidence that the motion would have been carried by the requisite two-thirds majority, many delegates were uncertain and felt that the option taken was the right one, as the swiftness of events would have given opponents of repeal persuasive procedural grounds to oppose the move.
Reaction in general was positive. Mr Eamonn O'Toole of the Loughinisland club, who originally proposed the motion to delete Rule 21 at the Down convention in 1995, said he was delighted and "confident that it will now go".
"I feel the time is right and that it's a positive response to what's been happening in Belfast. The GAA can make a massive contribution to community relations in the North."
Some Northern delegates foresaw problems and believe that not all the Ulster counties will carry the motion after consultation. But a more upbeat view from one of the dissenting counties at the Central Council was that if the referendums passed, the northern counties would accept that the situation had changed.