The Rev Ian Paisley said this evening he wanted the Taoiseach to repeat in the Dáil tomorrow an apology Mr Ahern issued to him yesterday evening. But a Government spokeswoman tonight insisted Mr Ahern would not be reading a diret apology to Rev Paisley into the Dáil record.
Mr Ahern issued an apology last night by telephone to Dr Paisley after saying earlier in the day that the photographing of IRA decommissioning as part of deal to restore powersharing in the North was not "workable".
The comments to journalists, after a meeting with Sinn Féin's Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness in Dublin, prompted the DUP to break contact with the Government.
Speaking in London after a meeting with the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, this evening, Dr Paisley said: "All I can say is that Bertie Ahern has apologised. I await what he says tomorrow.
If he repeats tomorrow in the Dáil what he said to me personally, then the DUP will meet the foreign secretary of his Government tomorrow."
Tonight, a Government spokeswoman said Mr Ahern would use the debate on the Northern Ireland peace process to clarify the Government's position but he would not be directly apologising.
"He is not going read an apology into the record of the Dail," she said. "An apology is not expected or required."
Ian Paisley Jr said tonight he had heard differing accounts about exactly what Mr Ahern would say publicly tomorrow. "We are content to wait and see exactly what he says," the North Antrim MLA said.
"If he says what he said on the phone yesterday we will be happy."
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, will co-chair talks with all parties in Hillsborough, Co Down, tomorrow with Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy.
In the Dáil tomorrow, the Taoiseach is expected to read a statement on the debacle. Asked whether the statement would contain an apology, a Government spokesman said he had not seen Mr Ahern's statement.
He said Mr Ahern would "outline his position completely" in relation to the North.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs told RTÉ radio earlier that "he was as surprised as anyone else when I heard the [Taoiseach's] remarks because it wasn't our view or the Government's view."
Dr Paisley spent half an hour in Downing Street having talks with Mr Blair. When he emerged, he said he would be back in Downing Street next week for a longer discussion.
The Taoiseach is meeting the SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, in Dublin later today.
Speaking before the meeting, he warned all political parties not to lose sight of the real issues at stake by focusing solely on the clash over photographic evidence of IRA decommissioning.
Mr Durkan was highly critical of the documents published by Mr Blair and the Taoiseach last week. "If you read these documents carefully you will see they are scrappy in parts," he said.
"There are other parts in which they are shabby and there are provisions in these documents that are nothing short of shameful."