The Taoiseach will today discuss the humanitarian situation in Iraq with the United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, in advance of the arrival in Belfast of President Bush and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to discuss the war and the Northern peace process.
Mr Ahern and Mr Annan will talk by phone before the US-Britain war summit, which begins this evening at Hillsborough Castle.
Against the backdrop of talks on the military campaign in Iraq, political activity in Northern Ireland is set to intensify when the US joins the Irish and British governments in a push to revive the power-sharing institutions.
The Irish and British governments plan to publish their proposals to revive power-sharing on Thursday, the fifth anniversary of the Belfast Agreement.
Thousands of anti-war protesters are expected to demonstrate outside Hillsborough this evening where President Bush is expected around 6 p.m. on his first visit to Ireland.
The war summit will continue tomorrow morning before Mr Bush and Mr Blair meet Mr Ahern. Mr Blair is expected to urge Mr Bush to internationalise the reconstruction of post-war Iraq, and is expecting a series of conferences to phase in a democratic Iraqi government.
A Government spokeswoman said last night the Taoiseach was anxious to hear what Mr Annan's priorities were for humanitarian relief and the post-war recovery and reconstruction. These issues had "critical importance" for the Government, she added.
The three leaders will meet all the pro-Belfast Agreement parties during a multilateral session tomorrow afternoon.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said yesterday that he believed Sinn Féin would join North's policing boards during the lifetime of the next power-sharing executive.
However, the Government spokeswoman said it was taking "nothing for granted" on the issues that still divided the parties.
The Government would not be drawn on claims that the peace process was being used as a public relations event by the US and Britain.
"Our priority in this exercise is the peace process. The Taoiseach and Prime Minister Blair have worked tremendously hard on this and the Americans are good friends," said the spokeswoman.
The Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, urged President Bush to issue an ultimatum to Sinn Féin threatening sanctions in the US if the IRA failed to disarm.
Mr Trimble said: "The IRA and the republican movement have reached the moment of truth and that moment of truth has to be the abandonment now of the physical force movement."
The Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, said he believed a peace deal could still be reached this week. Mr Adams said his party needed reassurance that there would be no further threats from unionists to bring down the North's Executive.
He hoped the parties could create the right circumstances for "acts of completion to take place right across the board".
When asked about the possibility of imminent movement from the Provisional IRA, Mr Adams said people would have to wait to see what happened following the joint declaration by Mr Blair and the Taoiseach later in the week.
He hoped President Bush would provide a "positive and creative input to the peace process", but admitted there were "contradictions" in holding a war summit at Hillsborough in conjunction with discussions on the North's peace process.
The SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, said his party was perturbed by the war summit.
"I cannot disguise my personal unhappiness at this, given my own opposition to this war and my concern for the integrity of our own peace process."
Meanwhile, the Green Party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent, last night claimed that two US aircraft returning from Iraq had been diverted to Dublin Airport from Shannon at the weekend due to fog. Mr Sargent called on the Taoiseach to make a statement on the matter.