Plans for elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly must be completed within weeks, the Taoiseach Mr Ahern and the British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair said today.
Both leaders used an American prize-giving ceremony honouring their role in shaping the Belfast Agreement to call for all parties in Northern Ireland to "go the final mile".
Mr Ahern, in the US ahead of his address to the United Nations General Assembly, was given the honour at the University of Connecticut. Mr Blair was represented by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.
Speaking as he collected the Thomas J Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights, Mr Ahern said plans for elections to the Stormont Assembly needed to be finalised by mid-October.
"Now is the time for all sides to take the final steps to make this agreement complete - the Government, unionists, nationalists," he said.
Mr Prescott read a letter from Mr Blair praising the decline in violence on the streets of Belfast over the summer. "That did not happen by accident. It was the result of a conscious effort on all sides," Mr Blair said.
"And that is partly why I believe that now is the time for all sides to take the final steps to make the Agreement complete - governments, unionists, nationalists and republicans."
The letter said Mr Blair and Mr Ahern had decided "that now is the time to go the final mile".
"That means the Government showing its willingness to make the changes in policing, equality and security demanded by the Agreement.
"It means unionists showing their commitment, not just to sharing power with nationalists, but making the institutions secure and stable.
"But it also means the IRA recognising that we could no longer carry on with it half in, and half out of the process."
PA