The British and Irish governments have worked out a strategy to ensure that the suspension of the Northern institutions will be short-lived, the Taoiseach said yesterday.
Mr Ahern said he had had a number of conversations with the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, over the weekend, and again yesterday. He said both governments agreed the suspension should be short-lived.
"All our actions will be designed to make sure that we get the institutions up and running again quickly. We will continue to deal with the issues as we finished them off on Friday, to continue to try to make sure that all aspects of the Good Friday agreement are implemented."
The Taoiseach said officials who had been intensely involved in the talks process over the last number of weeks would renew their efforts today and he expressed the hope that Mr David Trimble would meet Gen John de Chastelain.
He described chapters 7 and 8 of the general's second report, issued on Friday evening, as "significant".
"I know what is behind that and why he put it there, but I am not at liberty to give, under the rules, any of the reasons, but I think it needs to be explored further and it's certainly worth doing it."
On the decommissioning front, Mr Ahern said what the world wanted to know was what terms, what timetable and in what context it would happen. "These are matters that have to be worked out. I know that cannot happen overnight, but I think it has to be done in an organised way, and the only man in the world who can do that is the man who has that remit," the Taoiseach said.
Gen de Chastelain had great credibility and would only say things when he believed there was something to be said. "I think we saw that in the two reports issued on Friday, one which I have had for a fortnight, which said there was not progress, and his second, which he issued last Friday, based on what he believes is substantive progress."