MR BERTIE Ahern has traced the on ravelling of the peace process to the action by both governments in ignoring the Framework Document, which was agreed in, February 1995.
The Fianna Fail leader told a party meeting in Tralee the peace process "started to go off the rails" when the Ulster Unionist Party refused to take part in talks and withdrew its support from the British government.
The following March, he said, the UUP claimed that meaningful dialogue was being frustrated by Sinn Fein's inability to speak for the IRA on decommissioning.
Not by coincidence, the Northern Secretary of State, Sir Patrick Mayhew, laid down the three Washington conditions at the same time, in spite of assurances to the Dail by Mr Bruton that the British government's position did not require the decommissioning of weapons as a precondition for Sinn Fein's participation in all party talks.
The failure of the Taoiseach to immediately challenge the statement of Sinn Fein's disqualification meant that Mr Bruton "implicitly shared the British government's position over a three week period, before retreating to a more neutral one".
The peace process, Mr Ahern continued, had remained stalled since then. People, not just republicans, feel cheated by the absence of all party talks that were publicly promised.
"Virtually everyone feels let down by the breakdown of the ceasefire and by the setting aside of commitments made by both Sinn Fein and the IRA, as they were almost universally understood.
"We have to act speedily. I support the many public manifestations of the will of the people for peace and the restoration of the ceasefire.
"Senator Mitchell's involvement, in my view, is also essential as his report can provide the sole, way out of what would otherwise be almost insuperable difficulties. We need all party talks in some "form before the end of February to fulfil the two governments' commitment of November 28th."
Earlier, the Fianna Fail leader denied there had been any private agreement between Fianna Fail and the Labour Party in the last government and Sinn Fein about when all party talks would commence. The only undertakings were, he said, contained in the Downing Street Declaration and in public statements by Mr John Major.
This was made clear in a document sent by the government to Sinn Fein, in which no absolute guarantees were given that all party talks would start rapidly. That document also stated the government did not accept that an end to violence was, or should be, conditional on the achievement of a political settlement.