The Taoiseach has said Fianna Fáil wants to quickly resolve the question of whether the Independent Fianna Fáil TD for Donegal North East, Niall Blaney, should join the party.
Mr Ahern said there was "good will" on all sides and that it was now the view of the entire party leadership and the parliamentary party that the issue should be resolved.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern
Mr Blaney is the nephew of Neil T Blaney, who was expelled from the party following his involvement in the Arms Trial in the early 1970s.
A unification of Fianna Fáil and Independent Fianna Fáil, formed in the wake of the Arms Trial and the sacking of Neil Blaney, has caused controversy in the constituency.
Local TDs Cecilia Keaveney and Dr Jim McDaid both expressed opposition at a meeting of the Fianna Fáil constituency organisation on Sunday in Letterkenny, which was attended by the party's general secretary, Seán Dorgan.
The Independent Fianna Fáil organisation also met in the town, where Mr Blaney told supporters a deal had been done with Fianna Fáil and was ready to be announced.
Mr Ahern said today there had been "overwhelming" support at an almost full meeting of the Fianna Fail parliamentary party for Niall Blaney.
"He has been supporting this Government [and] his father before him for the last nine years. We have now agreed that there will be an implementation group from Independent Fianna Fail and from Fianna Fail, to deal with any organisational issues and we believe that can be done very quickly," Mr Ahern said.
He said there was good will on all sides.
"It is old sore in Fianna Fáil that has been here for 36 years and it is the view of the entire leadership of the party and the entire parliamentary party that we should resolve this issue quickly."
Speaking on RTE's 5-7 Liveprogramme, Niall Blaney said he would not like to say he was "on the verge" of joining Fianna Fáil.
"Certainly, there's good will on the Taoiseach's side and that of the parliamentary party.
"As you can imagine, it is something that can't be sorted overnight. Obviously there's great hurts and problems to negotiate and talk about and see if the problems that exist on the ground can be sorted out."
"The Fianna Fáil party is very much part of our thinking and our heart. There is no point in me saying that I wouldn't like to be there - I would like to be there. But at the end of the day, there's no point in going there unless you have the will of your own party. I do feel that will is there and now it seems the will of the Fianna Fáil party is there. So hopefully we'll sit down and talk about this and if there's agreement on both sides and it suits both sides, then hopefully that will be the case."
Mr Blaney said he did not want to pre-empt what problems might arise in talks with the Fianna Fáil organisation locally and he did not intend to air them in public.
"There are sores on both sides over a period of well over 30 years and I think it's time we sat down and discussed those and see if we can put everything to bed and move on."
Mr Blaney said he believed everyone was prepared to get down to "meaningful" talks.
"I'm not going to jump the gun - I'll take things nice and calmly."
He would remain an Independent Fianna Fáil candidate until talks were completed, he said.