The Taoiseach has pledged his Government will pursue the implementation of the Belfast Agreement's provisions on decommissioning and will support the exclusion from office of anyone not committed to using only democratic and non-violent means.
In a statement last night addressing unionist concerns about the Belfast Agreement, Mr Ahern said approval of the agreement North and South "will represent an unassailable democratic verdict".
Any subsequent violence "will be firmly crushed", he said.
Mr Ahern said he had deep sympathy with the feelings of anger and pain felt by victims of violence.
"I can only appeal to them to look upon the agreement as a whole, as a sincere best effort, in good faith, to bring to an end the conflict and to move forward to a situation in which peace will be sustained so that no more victims or families will have to bear the burden of pain and grief that they carry."
He said the provisions allowing the early release of prisoners should be seen in that context, and in the context that many were going to be released anyway.
"Far better that they should be released as part of a binding peace agreement and, I might add, in circumstances where they have been actively arguing for a peaceful and political way forward."
He said people in Northern Ireland were entitled "to an absolute assurance that the violence is over".
He hoped that the evolution in the republican movement culminating in the decision to endorse the agreement last weekend would go some way towards convincing people of this.
Stressing the Government's commitment to implementing the deal as a whole, he stressed key provisions of the agreement relating to non-violence:
The reaffirmation by all parties in the agreement of their "total and absolute commitment to exclusively democratic and peaceful means" and their opposition to the use or threat of force by others;
The provision that all Ministers in Northern Ireland will have to affirm a pledge of office including a commitment to exclusively democratic and peaceful means;
The provision that those who do not use only such means should be excluded or removed from office;
The reaffirmation of all participants or their commitment to total disarmament of paramilitary organisations, and their intention "to use any influence they may have" to bring this about within two years of the endorsement of the agreement;
The provisions about the normalisation and de escalation of security.
He said there was an unstoppable momentum towards more civilised relationships on the island.
"The Irish Government and people want to go forward in a spirit of good faith and generosity with the people of the unionist tradition and help each other to put the nightmare of past decades behind us."