The Taoiseach now says that the Northern Ireland executive must be established before paramilitary weapons are disposed of, adding to the pressure on Mr David Trimble to soften his stance before the June 30th talks deadline.
With a week to go before the deadline imposed by Mr Blair, Mr Ahern asserted yesterday that it would be possible to persuade paramilitaries to dispose of their weapons only "in the context of a confidence in functioning democratic institutions".
Mr Trimble and his party have set their faces against the establishment of such "functioning democratic institutions" before some decommissioning takes place. But with Mr Trimble already under strong British government pressure to alter his position, Mr Ahern last night called on unionism "to dispel the persistent doubts about its real willingness to enter into the inclusive partnership and other arrangements it signed up to under the agreement".
Mr Trimble appeared to be on a collision course with Mr Blair last night after rejecting the Prime Minister's June 30th devolution deadline, and calling on the Secretary of State and the RUC Chief Constable to review the status of the IRA ceasefire in the light of last week's attempted murder of RUC double agent Mr Martin McGartland. The Conservatives, meanwhile, called for a review of prisoner releases as they reacted angrily to the release yesterday of Brighton bomber Patrick Magee under the Belfast Agreement.
Speaking to reporters in London yesterday, Mr Trimble called for the sacking of the Northern Secretary, saying a "widespread lack of confidence" in Dr Mowlam was one of the "great difficulties" in implementing the agreement.
With Mr Blair expected back in Belfast tomorrow, the Ulster Unionist leader said: "One of the great difficulties we have had in implementing the agreement, particularly in the run-up to the formation of an executive, has been the widespread lack of confidence in the community, particularly among Ulster Unionists, with regard to what the Secretary of State will do."
Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Mr Martin MrGuinness, said the Northern Ireland Assembly should be closed and the wages of Assembly members frozen if the deadline for agreement over the formation of an executive and decommissioning was not met. The Rev Ian Paisley, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, has said the agreement should fall if the Assembly falls and Mr Blair should review the whole peace process.
Officials were believed last night to be continuing work on a proposal that would see an executive established, with a condition that Sinn Fein members would be expelled from it if there was no decommissioning within a specified time frame.
Mr Ahern's view that decommissioning will only happen if institutions are first established is consistent with that proposal. There has, however, been no indication of unionist support for it. Mr Ahern's speech to the Dail yesterday allied him with Mr Blair, who said in Belfast last week that decommissioning was not a precondition for the formation of an executive.
"If progress is to be made, it is first essential to establish the institutions," Mr Ahern said. "All the indications are that the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons, however desirable as a confidence-building measure on its own merits, will not take place in advance of the establishment of the institutions."