The Taoiseach has indicated he is open to the idea that an auditor be appointed to monitor paramilitary ceasefires.
"We would be prepared to look at that provided it doesn't alter the position of the Secretary of State [Dr John Reid]," Mr Ahern told reporters in Dublin this morning.
He said Dr Reid was the arbiter in Northern Ireland but he would not rule out the auditor proposal if it proved to be of some benefit.
Mr David Trimble is to meet Mr Tony Blair in London today to push for the proposal. The Northern Ireland First Minister sees it as a means of restoring Unionist confidence in the peace process.
The Ulster Unionist Party leader faces a crunch meeting of his party's ruling council on September 21st over the future of power sharing with Sinn Féin because of concerns within the UUP about the IRA ceasefire.
But an IRA spokesman, in an interview published in An Phoblachttoday, rejected the idea of an auditor, saying it would only be used "to serve the interests of those opposed to change".
He also accused "British intelligence agencies" of also "indulging in dis-information" to discredit republicans' role in the peace process.
Unionists have accused the IRA of orchestrating the sectarian street disturbances which have dogged Northern Ireland all summer.
This has been denied by Sinn Féin and the IRA, who have accused loyalist paramilitaries of initiating the street disturbances in Belfast and of engaging in systematic sectarian attacks on Catholics throughout Northern Ireland over the past year.
Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid, earlier this week after lengthy talks with Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams at Stormont, said the British government was looking at ways of clarifying to the public which paramilitary organisations were breaking their ceasefire.