The compromise on the timetable for setting up institutions under the Belfast Agreement reached by the First Minister, Mr David Trimble, and the Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, has been described by the Taoiseach as "critically important".
Warmly welcoming yesterday's development, Mr Ahern said the decision was vital in terms of ensuring the implementation of the provisions of the agreement.
"We might all have wished that it would have been possible to proceed with the establishment of the institutions at an earlier point. But now that we have agreement on the way forward, it is imperative to ensure that the time-frame outlined is adhered to in full," the Taoiseach said. Dublin would now press on, with the British government, to prepare for the establishment of the North-South ministerial council and the implementation bodies that were agreed on December 18th, he added.
"The relevant departments North and South, together with my Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs, are engaged in an intensive programme of work with their Northern counterparts to ensure the North-South institutions will be ready to `go live' at the same time as the other institutions, as required by the agreement," Mr Ahern said.
The Government will bring forward legislation after the Dail resumes on January 27th.
According to the Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, while the motion agreed between Mr Trimble and Mr Mallon was "not everything we would have wished for, it is better than nothing".
Meanwhile, he said, the impasse on decommissioning continued to haunt the process, and the republican movement had absolutely nothing to lose from making a gesture on the issue. "There is no legal bar on Sinn Fein's participation in the shadow executive in advance of decommissioning, but there is a clear moral obligation on them and the IRA to move on the issue," Mr Quinn said.
Whether Mr Trimble or the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, liked it or not they were "mutually dependent on each other for the foreseeable future.
"It is time they recognised this and started acting accordingly," he said. "It would be a bitter irony if the historic opportunity which is now within our grasp were to be dashed either by a failure of imagination by the republican movement, or by an insistence on rewriting the agreement on the part of the unionists."
The Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, said yesterday she was very glad Mr Trimble and Mr Mallon had reached an understanding. "I welcome their commitment, which matches the legislative timetable I outlined earlier in the week."
The UUP Assembly member, Mr Michael McGimpsey, said there was still time to devolve powers to a full executive on March 10th.
"But without decommissioning we will block Sinn Fein's entry into the executive," he said.